Bereavement

This qualitative study explored bereaved parents' and siblings' reports of legacies created by children with advanced cancer. Participants included 40 families of children who died from cancer, with 36 mothers, 27 fathers, and 40 siblings (ages 8-18 years). Individual interviews were completed at home approximately 10.68 months (SD = 3.48) after the child's death.

RNs and other healthcare professionals engage in helping relationships that involve objective therapeutic exchange and intervention for the dying and bereavement support for the survivors. Nurses must possess good communication skills to give the attuned empathic responses upon which humane, complete, and comprehensive end-of-life care is based. These empathic responses are conditioned by nurses' emotional and cognitive attitudes toward death and dying.