title: Interactions between health care personnel and parents approached for organ and/or tissue donation: influences on parents' adjustment to loss.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The effect of loss on those approached for organ and/or tissue donation, particularly in the years thereafter, has received little attention.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To assess whether adjustment of a parent to loss of a child is influenced by interactions with health care personnel.
  
  
  METHODS
  A self-administered questionnaire was completed by the parents of 216 decedents. Interactions in the hospital were assessed by examining the experience in the hospital, physical separation from the child, and the relationship with health care professionals. Adjustment to loss was defined by 4 components: grief, personal growth after loss, meaning of life after loss, and the meaning of organ donation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A positive experience in the hospital was significantly associated with the meaning of donation. Increased satisfaction with the separation process was associated with better adjustment on all components. Finally, a better relationship with health care professionals was associated with less grief and with greater personal growth. These results were characterized after adjustment for time since loss, which was from 6 months to 27 years.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Interactions in the hospital appear to influence adjustment to loss significantly. Appropriate interventions may aid parents in their adjustment to life.
authors.affiliation: Israel Transplant, Ministry of Health (TA, JC) and Tel Aviv University (JC), Tel Aviv, Israel, Rabin Medical Hospital, Petah Tikva, Israel (JC).
authors.forename: Tamar
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ashkenazi
authors.affiliation: Israel Transplant, Ministry of Health (TA, JC) and Tel Aviv University (JC), Tel Aviv, Israel, Rabin Medical Hospital, Petah Tikva, Israel (JC).
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cohen
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D001293:Attitude to Death; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006117:Grief; D006282:Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007557:Israel; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D011368:Professional-Family Relations; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014019:Tissue Donors / Q000523:psychology*; D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement; D055815:Young Adult