Professional Support for Children with a Seriously Ill or Deceased Parent in Specialised Palliative Care and their Encounters in a Bereavement Support Programme
Karidar, Hakima LU
(2024)
In Lund University, Faculty of Medicine Doctoral Disseration Series
- Abstract
- A parent’s life threating illness and death can significantly affect their children's wellbeing in both the short and long term. Support from professionals is recommended when parents lack the ability to help children cope with loss, bereavement, and grief. The overall aim of this dissertation was to illuminate professionals’ encounters with children of a seriously ill or deceased parent and to explore, from contextual and relational perspectives, the underlying logics and execution of a bereavement support programme for children.
The empirical material for Studies I and II was collected through individual semi-structured interviews with nurses, physicians, and social workers in specialised palliative care units in Southern Sweden. In... (More) - A parent’s life threating illness and death can significantly affect their children's wellbeing in both the short and long term. Support from professionals is recommended when parents lack the ability to help children cope with loss, bereavement, and grief. The overall aim of this dissertation was to illuminate professionals’ encounters with children of a seriously ill or deceased parent and to explore, from contextual and relational perspectives, the underlying logics and execution of a bereavement support programme for children.
The empirical material for Studies I and II was collected through individual semi-structured interviews with nurses, physicians, and social workers in specialised palliative care units in Southern Sweden. In Study III, an ethnographic field study was conducted within a support programme for children and their surviving parent. The empirical material was analysed using latent content analysis and thematic analysis, respectively, through a theoretical framework inspired by Bourdieu.
The findings revealed that, based on their symbolic position and power, both professionals and parents acted as gatekeepers in providing support to children during a parent’s severe illness and after the parent’s death. Professionals had limited direct contact with children in their daily work. Due to a lack of time and expertise, responsibility for supporting the children was often shifted between professional groups, with the result that no one actually took responsibility for supporting these children. This highlighted an absence of family-centred care. In both palliative care settings and the studied support programme, confidentiality played a key role, both facilitating and limiting the possibility of support and involvement of children. It also influenced interactions between children, parents, and professionals. In the support programme, open and verbal communication between children during sessions was limited. Instead, informal conversations during breaks and social mingling, unrelated to bereavement, connected the children more effectively than the organised discussions on loss, bereavement, and grief.
This dissertation highlights the importance of family-centred care in supporting children of severely ill parents and advocates for child-centred approaches in the development of future support programmes.
(Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/fe0512c7-ae35-4104-b913-446eb501b5ee
- author
- Karidar, Hakima
LU
- supervisor
-
- Stinne Glasdam LU
- Pia Lundqvist LU
- opponent
-
- Professor Johnsen Hogstad, Ingrid, Molde University Collage, Norge
- organization
- publishing date
- 2024
- type
- Thesis
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- children, Parental death, Illness, Professionals, Specialised Palliative Care, Grief, Support Programme, Bourdieu
- in
- Lund University, Faculty of Medicine Doctoral Disseration Series
- issue
- 2024:143
- pages
- 84 pages
- publisher
- Lund University, Faculty of Medicine
- defense location
- Belfragesalen, BMC D15, Klinikgatan 32 i Lund. Join by Zoom: https://lu-se.zoom.us/j/69926676453
- defense date
- 2024-11-26 13:00:00
- ISSN
- 1652-8220
- ISBN
- 978-91-8021-641-8
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- fe0512c7-ae35-4104-b913-446eb501b5ee
- date added to LUP
- 2024-11-04 14:41:45
- date last changed
- 2025-04-08 03:16:57
@phdthesis{fe0512c7-ae35-4104-b913-446eb501b5ee,
abstract = {{A parent’s life threating illness and death can significantly affect their children's wellbeing in both the short and long term. Support from professionals is recommended when parents lack the ability to help children cope with loss, bereavement, and grief. The overall aim of this dissertation was to illuminate professionals’ encounters with children of a seriously ill or deceased parent and to explore, from contextual and relational perspectives, the underlying logics and execution of a bereavement support programme for children. <br/>The empirical material for Studies I and II was collected through individual semi-structured interviews with nurses, physicians, and social workers in specialised palliative care units in Southern Sweden. In Study III, an ethnographic field study was conducted within a support programme for children and their surviving parent. The empirical material was analysed using latent content analysis and thematic analysis, respectively, through a theoretical framework inspired by Bourdieu.<br/>The findings revealed that, based on their symbolic position and power, both professionals and parents acted as gatekeepers in providing support to children during a parent’s severe illness and after the parent’s death. Professionals had limited direct contact with children in their daily work. Due to a lack of time and expertise, responsibility for supporting the children was often shifted between professional groups, with the result that no one actually took responsibility for supporting these children. This highlighted an absence of family-centred care. In both palliative care settings and the studied support programme, confidentiality played a key role, both facilitating and limiting the possibility of support and involvement of children. It also influenced interactions between children, parents, and professionals. In the support programme, open and verbal communication between children during sessions was limited. Instead, informal conversations during breaks and social mingling, unrelated to bereavement, connected the children more effectively than the organised discussions on loss, bereavement, and grief.<br/>This dissertation highlights the importance of family-centred care in supporting children of severely ill parents and advocates for child-centred approaches in the development of future support programmes.<br/>}},
author = {{Karidar, Hakima}},
isbn = {{978-91-8021-641-8}},
issn = {{1652-8220}},
keywords = {{children, Parental death, Illness, Professionals, Specialised Palliative Care, Grief, Support Programme, Bourdieu}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{2024:143}},
publisher = {{Lund University, Faculty of Medicine}},
school = {{Lund University}},
series = {{Lund University, Faculty of Medicine Doctoral Disseration Series}},
title = {{Professional Support for Children with a Seriously Ill or Deceased Parent in Specialised Palliative Care and their Encounters in a Bereavement Support Programme}},
url = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/198995009/Hakima_Karidar_-_Avhandling._HELA._pdf.pdf}},
year = {{2024}},
}