Supporting children and families facing the death of a parent: part 1.
OBJECTIVE
To present findings from a review of key literature and from a scoping of current provision of support for children facing the death of a parent. A summary of the findings from these is reported here.


METHODS
To set out the background and context to the evaluation of a new service aimed at supporting children and families facing the loss of a parent from cancer, key literature was reviewed and a scoping of current bereavement support for children and families was conducted using online searching, telephone and face-to-face communications.


RESULTS
The review processes uncovered a range of national and local bereavement services. Bereavement was reported as a normal life event and part of human experience. Health, education and social services personnel need to respond to individual needs, accepting that not all bereaved children require complex, long-term interventions.


CONCLUSIONS
At national and global levels there was recognition that the needs of bereaved children require careful assessment. A complex range of initiatives have been developed across the UK aimed at supporting children facing the death of a family member. The fragmented nature of provision makes it difficult to be comprehensive or all-inclusive when describing service provision in this area.
Kennedy
Catriona
C
School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Care, Napier University, Edinburgh, UK. c.kennedy@napier.ac.uk
McIntyre
Rosemary
R
Worth
Allison
A
Hogg
Rhona
R
D001601:Bereavement; D002608:Charities / Q000458:organization & administration; D002648:Child; D002669:Child Welfare; D016241:Child of Impaired Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D005192:Family Health; D006293:Health Promotion; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D015277:Hotlines; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008016:Life Change Events; D008603:Mental Health; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology; D024802:Nurse's Role / Q000523:psychology; D009730:Nursing Assessment; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D011368:Professional-Family Relations; D002666:Psychology, Child; D012307:Risk Factors; D012657:Self-Help Groups / Q000458:organization & administration; D012944:Social Support; D006113:United Kingdom