title: Living through the death of a child: a qualitative study of bereaved parents' experiences.
abstract: METHODS
  Cross-sectional qualitative study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Interviews with purposeful sample of 25 recently bereaved parents.
  
  
  METHODS
  Semi-structured in-depth interviews.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Four analytically distinct processes were identified in the responses of parents to the death of a child. These are referred to as 'piloting', 'providing', 'protecting' and 'preserving'. Regardless of individual circumstances, these processes were integral to all parents' coping, enabling an active 'doing' for their child and family throughout the trajectory of their child's illness and into bereavement.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Facilitating the capacity of parents to 'do' is central to coping with the stress and uncertainty of living through the death of a child. The provision of informational, instrumental and emotional support by health care professionals in the context of 'doing' is core to quality palliative care.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing and Midwifery, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast BT9 7BL, United Kingdom. j.price@qub.ac.uk
authors.forename: Jayne
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Price
authors.forename: Joanne
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jordan
authors.forename: Lindsay
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Prior
authors.forename: Jackie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Parkes
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001601:Bereavement; D002423:Cause of Death; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D036301:Qualitative Research