Bemötande av barn vars föräldrar är döende eller har avlidit. En litteraturstudie
Each year over 3000 children in Sweden lose a parent. The loss of a parent may cause some grave changes in a child?s life, leading to both mental and physical consequences. The purpose of this literature study is to examine the different ways in which health care personnel can better receive and relate to children whose parents are dying or have passed away.Data was collected through such sources as Pubmed, Academic Search Elite and Cinahl, which resulted in the inclusion of sixteen subsequent articles, ten of which were quantitative and six of which were qualitative. Thirteen of the said articles illustrate how children act in response to a dying or deceased parent and what measures were needed for them to move on with their lives. The child, bereaved parent and health care personnel were all examined within the studies. However, the authors of the remaining three Swedish articles had quite a different purpose from those already mentioned. There aim was to examine recommendations as to whether a child should visit a seriously ill relative at an Intensive Care Unit, as well as the subsequent opinions of both parent and health cars personnel to this visitation. Results showed that it was very beneficial for children and parents alike to receive information and support from health care personnel both during and after the parents period of suffering and eventual death. It was found that, if health care personnel or other adult for that matter regularly engaged with the child, alleviating any fears, then the risk for further psychological problems was reduced.