title: Parents' assessment of quality of care and grief following a child's death.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Deaths among children are rare, but the effect on family members is profound. Compared with adult deaths, information about grief, recovery, and quality of care is sparse.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To describe aspects of bereavement for parents who had experienced the death of a child and to compare these aspects by parent sex, type of death, and overall experience.
  
  
  METHODS
  In-person interviews with families, primarily parents, a mean of 21.8 months after the child's death.
  
  
  METHODS
  Academic, tertiary care, faith-based children's hospital.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifty-nine child deaths and 79 parents or guardians.
  
  
  METHODS
  In-person interviews, including standard instruments for bereavement and quality of care: the Texas Revised Inventory of Grief and the Comprehensive Assessment of Satisfaction With Care-Short Form.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fathers and mothers had similar levels of grief. Mothers who experienced the sudden death of their child had somewhat more intense grief reactions than those whose child died of a chronic condition. Grief scores did not vary according to satisfaction with treatment. Comprehensive Assessment of Satisfaction With Care-Short Form scores were high for parents and similar between mothers and fathers and between sudden and unexpected deaths.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although there were some differences in grief responses among parents, satisfaction-with-care scores were high. Further studies should examine the role of satisfaction with care in parental grief response and incorporate the reporting of experiences rather than simple ratings to measure satisfaction with care.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Health, School of Public Health, Saint Louis University, St Louis, MO, USA.
authors.forename: Grace A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Seecharan
authors.forename: Elena M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Andresen
authors.forename: Kaye
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Norris
authors.forename: Suzanne S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Toce
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001293:Attitude to Death; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003258:Consumer Behavior / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003645:Death, Sudden; D005260:Female; D006117:Grief; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008923:Missouri; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010290:Parents; D011368:Professional-Family Relations; D036301:Qualitative Research; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012737:Sex Factors