Breaking bad news--parents' experience of learning that their child has leukaemia.
Affiliation
Department of Paediatrics, Cork University Hospital, Cork. jemos2@yahoo.co.ukIssue Date
2012-02-03T15:16:01ZMeSH
*Adaptation, Psychological*Attitude to Health
Child
*Child Welfare
*Communication
Humans
Interviews as Topic
Leukemia/diagnosis/*psychology
Parent-Child Relations
Parents/*psychology
Personal Satisfaction
*Professional-Family Relations
Prognosis
Questionnaires
Retrospective Studies
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Ir Med J. 2007 Oct;100(9):588-90.Journal
Irish medical journalPubMed ID
18196882Abstract
This study aimed to seek parents' experiences of how they learned their child had leukaemia and therefore identify ways of improving this process. To achieve this task a questionnaire was designed to ask parents about specific elements of the initial interview and give them opportunity to add their thoughts and feelings on the subject. All children with a diagnosis of leukaemia over an eighteen-year period were identified and parents of those children still alive were invited to partake in the study. 49 out of 50 families agreed to participate of which 35 (72%) returned completed questionnaires. The majority 29 (83%) expressed overall satisfaction. Their replies confirmed some findings of previous studies, and also offered some new insights. Examples of new findings or expansion on previous findings include observations on the presence of young children at the initial interview; the importance of the language used in conveying the diagnosis and prognostic information, and a preference for actuarial terms when discussing prognosis. Telling parents their child has leukaemia is a challenging and important task. The experience of parents gives us valuable insights into our own communication skills and highlights areas of possible improvement in this difficult area.Language
engISSN
0332-3102 (Print)0332-3102 (Linking)
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