ArticleBMJ supportive & palliative care2022
The dying parent and dependent children: a nationwide survey of hospice and community palliative care support services.
Article in BMJ supportive & palliative care, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 19 citations in OpenAlex.
- Communicating with young children who have a parent dying of a life-limiting illness: a qualitative systematic review of the experiences and impact on healthcare, social and spiritual care professionals.BMC palliative care · 2022Pooled it
- Mental Health Professionals' Views on Artificial Intelligence as an Aide for Children Anticipating or Suffering the Loss of a Parent to Cancer: Helpful or Harmful?Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- The family talk intervention prevent the feeling of loneliness - a long term follow up after a parents life-threatening illness.BMC palliative care · 2024Article
- An e-Learning Intervention for Professionals to Promote Family-Centered Cancer Care When a Significant Caregiver for Children Is at End of Life: Mixed Methods Evaluation Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Article
- Priorities for enhancing nurses' and social workers' competence and confidence in helping families support dependent children through parental death. A classic-Delphi survey.BMC palliative care · 2024Article
- Article
- The association between socioeconomic position and the symptoms and concerns of hospital inpatients seen by specialist palliative care: Analysis of routinely collected patient data.Palliative medicine · 2023Article
- 'Don't forget the children': a qualitative study when a parent is at end of life from cancer.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAnnually, across the world a substantial number of dependent children experience the death of a parent through life-limiting illness. Without support, this has long-term implications for children's emotional, social and physical well-being, impacting on health and social care services globally. Limited information exists on how service providers are meeting family needs when a parent with dependent children is dying.
aimTo determine the bereavement support provided to families with dependent children by UK hospices before and after a parent's death.
designA 23-item, cross-sectional, web-based survey of adult UK hospices. Closed and open-ended questions were asked about the features of support provided; open-ended response was sought to a question about the challenges faced by hospices in delivering support. Descriptive and non-parametric statistics and framework analysis were used to analyse the data.
results197 hospices were invited to participate. Response rate was 66% (130/197). More types of support were provided after, than before, parental death (mean 6.36/5.64, z=-5.767, p<0001). Twenty-two per cent of hospices reported no formal processes for asking or documenting the presence of dependent children. Volunteers were an underused resource before parental death. Four themes characterised challenges in delivering support for families: emotional difficulties for families; practical and social difficulties for families; funding/resources; and staff training/numbers.
conclusionsFamily needs are not consistently being met when a parent is dying. Areas for development include: enhanced systems to record when patients have dependent children; flexible approaches to support vulnerable families; staff training to help communication with families and management of their own fears of making the situation worse. Effective educational interventions and service developments to better support staff, parents and children are needed.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.