The Grief Experience of Caregivers When the Child Has a Life Threatening Illness

<p>Using a mixed method approach, this study explored the impact of attachment styles on the grief experience of parents and guardians of a child who has a hematological or oncological illness. The grief experience was evaluated through the lenses of Chronic Sorrow, Ambiguous Loss and Anticipatory Grief. This study was conducted at the Loma Linda University Medical Center Hematology Oncology Pediatric Clinic and was completed by 106 participants who responded to a quantitative survey with open-ended questions. An open-ended questionnaire regarding the impact of the child’s illness on the couple relationship was completed by six couples. The results indicated that experienced grief is significantly lower for parents or guardians with a Secure attachment style. The degree of grief experienced by parents could be predicted by whether or not the child was currently receiving treatment, whether the child was considered cured and the time elapsed since the diagnosis was given. Healthy and unhealthy coping skills were identified within the couple relationships, which provided richness to the understanding of the experience of parents and guardians with a child who has a life threatening illness.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Counseling and Family Sciences

Year

2011

Author dc:creator

• Ward, Avigail

Contributors dc:contributor

• Hernandez, Barbara C.
• Gober, Carla
• Moline, Mary
• Wilson, Colwick

• Counseling
• Marriage and Family Therapy and Counseling
• Social and Behavioral Sciences
• Parental grief; Parenting - Psychological aspects; Loss (Psychology); Chronic diseases in children; Caregivers - Psychology
• Attachment styles; Grief experience; Chronic Sorrow; Ambiguous Loss; Anticipatory Grief; Couples Relationships; Coping skills

Statement dc:rights

• This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has granted Loma Linda University a limited, non-exclusive right to make this publication available to the public. The author retains all other copyrights.

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarsrepository.llu.edu/etd/346

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarsrepository.llu.edu:etd-1349