Lived experience of a child’s chronic illness and death: A qualitative systematic review of the parental bereavement trajectory

Abstract

To understand the lived experience of parents who have lost their child to a chronic life-limiting condition, six major databases were searched by adhering to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Articles were screened for appropriateness using the Sample, Phenomenon of Interest, Design, Evaluation, Research type tool, and relevant qualitative studies were selected for full-text data analysis using Thematic Synthesis. Findings were categorized into 13 themes that were further organized into a four-phase trajectory of parental bereavement experience of child loss, namely: Liminal Margin, Holding Space, Navigating Losses, and Reconstructing Lives. The findings are discussed in the light of existing literature with practical recommendations for enhancing parental bereavement support services.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Caroline Pang Soo Ling, Rebecca Lavanie David and Yasmin Lynda Munro at the Medical Library, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore for the kind assistance in developing the search strategy for the review and curating the studies

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Singapore Ministry of Education (MOE) Academic Research Fund (AcRF) under Tier 1 Fund [Ref no. 2017-T1-001-034].