Palliative Care

The concept of pediatric palliative care should be analyzed to gain a better understanding of how to address the needs of children living with life-threatening illnesses. According to Walker and Avant, this article identifies uses of the concept, defines its critical attributes, describes a model case, describes additional cases, and identifies antecedents, consequences, and empirical referents. The analysis is useful to researchers and clinicians with a focus on pediatric palliative care.

 The concept of continuing bonds (CB) is a human response to health and illness within paediatric palliative care. This literature review aims to: define and explain the significance of CB; describe the history of the concept; critically analyze the literature related to CB; and make recommendations for future research. Exploration of CB as a response to life-threatening illness and to losing a child is significant in terms of improving care for children and their families living with life-threatening illness.

 The concept of palliative care originally evolved from the hospice philosophy of meeting gaps in care for seriously ill and dying patients. The Latin word palliate means “conceal or alleviate symptoms without curing” (Romesburg, 2007). The earliest recording of the word palliate can be traced to the late 14th century, where it originated in Elizabethan and Indo-European traditions (Morris, 1998).