PURPOSE Previous research shows that bereaved parents are at an increased risk for intense and prolonged grief responses. To offer effective support to parents during a child's cancer treatment and after their child's death, more knowledge is needed about factors related to the child's illness trajectory that may contribute to prolonged grief in bereaved parents and about possible sex differences related to such factors. Therefore, we examined possible contributing factors associated with prolonged grief in cancer-bereaved mothers and fathers 1 to 5 years after their child died of cancer. METHODS We studied data from a population-based nationwide survey, including 133 mothers and 92 fathers who had lost a child to cancer 1 to 5 years earlier, using univariable and multiple regression analyses to assess the associations between prolonged grief and possible contributing variables. RESULTS The variables associated with lower levels of prolonged grief symptoms for mothers were being able to talk about feelings within the family (P = .00) and trusting that health care professionals made every possible effort to cure the child (P = .01). The statistically significantly associated variables for fathers were having said farewell to the deceased child in the way they wanted (P = .00) and feeling that they had received practical support from health care professionals during the child's illness trajectory (P = .01). CONCLUSION We found factors during the illness of children with cancer that contributed to prolonged grief for parents; these were different for mothers and fathers. The results may have implications for design of family bereavement support within pediatric oncology care, including addressing the differing needs of mothers and fathers more effectively.

中文翻译：

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儿童生病期间的因素与失去亲人的父母的长期悲痛症状有关

目的 先前的研究表明，失去亲人的父母发生强烈和长时间的悲痛反应的风险增加。为了在孩子的癌症治疗期间和孩子去世后为父母提供有效的支持，需要更多地了解与孩子的疾病轨迹相关的因素，这些因素可能导致失去亲人的父母长期悲伤，以及与这些因素相关的可能的性别差异。因此，我们研究了与癌症失去亲人的父母在他们的孩子死于癌症后 1 到 5 年长期悲伤相关的可能因素。方法 我们研究了一项基于人群的全国性调查数据，其中包括 1 至 5 年前因癌症失去孩子的 133 位母亲和 92 位父亲，使用单变量和多元回归分析来评估长期悲伤与可能的贡献变量之间的关联。结果 与较低水平的母亲长期悲伤症状相关的变量是能够谈论家庭内部的感受 (P = .00) 并相信医疗保健专业人员会尽一切努力治愈孩子 (P = .01)。父亲的统计显着相关变量是以他们想要的方式告别已故的孩子 (P = .00) 并感觉他们在孩子的疾病轨迹中得到了医疗保健专业人员的实际支持 (P = .01)。结论 我们发现了癌症儿童患病期间导致父母长期悲伤的因素；这些对母亲和父亲来说是不同的。