title: Like being covered in a wet and dark blanket - Parents' lived experiences of losing a child to cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to illuminate parents' lived experiences of losing a child to cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  Interviews and a narrative about parents' experiences of losing a child to cancer were gathered from six parents of children whom had participated in a longitudinal study across the child's illness trajectory. The analysis of the data was inspired by van Manen's hermeneutic phenomenological approach.
  
  
  RESULTS
  One essential theme emerged: Like being covered in a wet and dark blanket, as well as six related themes: Feeling conflicting emotions, Preparing for the moment of death, Continuing parenting after death, Recollecting and sharing memories, Working through the sorrow and New perspectives in life.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is a need for good palliative care. If not, there is a risk that the parent will perseverate and blame themselves for not being a good parent during the suffering child's last time in life. Meetings with the parents six months and two years after the child's death might facilitate healing through the grief process.
authors.affiliation: CHILD Research Group, Department of Nursing Science, School of Health Sciences, Jönköping University, Jönköping, Sweden; Division of Nursing, Department of Health and Learning, University of Skövde, Box 408, S-541 28 Skövde, Sweden. Electronic address: maria.bjork@ju.se.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Björk
authors.affiliation: Division of Nursing, Department of Health and Learning, University of Skövde, Box 408, S-541 28 Skövde, Sweden; Faculty of Caring Science, Work Life and Social Welfare, University of Borås, S-50190 Borås, Sweden. Electronic address: annelie.sundler@hb.se.
authors.forename: Annelie J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Sundler
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Lund University, Box 157, S-221 00 Lund, Sweden. Electronic address: inger.hallstrom@med.lu.se.
authors.forename: Inger
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Hallström
authors.affiliation: Division of Nursing, Department of Health and Learning, University of Skövde, Box 408, S-541 28 Skövde, Sweden. Electronic address: kina.hammarlund@his.se.
authors.forename: Kina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hammarlund
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001293:Attitude to Death; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006117:Grief; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality* / Q000523:psychology*; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Death; Lived experience; Nursing; Paediatric cancer; Palliative care; Parents