Risk Factors for Complicated Grief After a Death From Cancer or an Other Cause: A Longitudinal and Prospective Study Among Children and Their Parents
Trial Snapshot
- Phase
- Not Applicable
- Status
- Completed
- Enrollment
- 38
- Locations
- 1
- Primary Endpoint
- Inventory of Complicated Grief
Study Overview
Brief Summary
The purpose of this study is to identify risk factors of Complicated Grief (CG) among children and adolescents who lost a parent to cancer or from an other cause.
Detailed Description
Although the intensity of the grief and life disruption usually subsides in the months following the loss of a loved one, approximately 7% of bereaved individuals will continue to experience persistent and intense grief-related symptoms associated with marked distress and functional impairment years after the death.
While several studies aimed to evaluate risk factors of CG among adults, little is known regarding CG among children and adolescents. Therefore, prospective research directly examining the impact of bereavement on post-loss psychiatric symptoms, including CG, post-traumatic-stress disorder (PTSD), depression, attentional and behavioral avoidance among children are needed. Improving our understanding of CG risk factors among children will help direct healthcare professionals' clinical attention toward screening and care of this underserved population.
Furthermore, identifying mechanisms explaining why cancer bereaved children may be at greater risk for persistent psychological distress and CG will inform the development of preventive, early intervention and treatment strategies.
Participants will be recruited to the Child and Adolescent grief counseling of the College Hospital of Toulouse as well as with the Team Regional Resource Pediatric Palliative Care "Enfant-Do". At 3, 6 and 12 months post-loss, children and their parent will be invited to complete questionnaires assessing peritraumatic dissociative experiences, peritraumatic distress, security attachment, symptoms of CG, symptoms of PTSD and attentional avoidance.
Study Design
- Study Type
- Interventional
- Allocation
- Non Randomized
- Intervention Model
- Parallel
- Primary Purpose
- Supportive Care
- Masking
- None
Eligibility Criteria
- Ages
- 6 Years to 17 Years (Child)
- Sex
- All
- Accepts Healthy Volunteers
- No
Inclusion Criteria
- •Having lost a parent within the last 3 months
- •Signed consent form from the parent
- •To have health care coverage by the French social security
- •Signed consent form
- •Having lost mother or father of the child within the last 3 months
Exclusion Criteria
- •Both parents are dead
- •Medical disease
- •Ongoing legal procedure regarding the death
- •Decline to take part to the study
- •Mental retardation or schizophrenia
- •Ongoing legal procedure regarding the death
Arms & Interventions
children who lost a parent to cancer
Children will complete scales, questionnaires and inventory at 3 months post-loss and only 2 scales at 6 and 12 month post-loss
Intervention: Scales, questionnaires and inventory (Behavioral)
children who lost a parent not to cancer
Children will complete scales, questionnaires and inventory at 3 months post-loss and only 2 scales at 6 and 12 month post-loss
Intervention: Scales, questionnaires and inventory (Behavioral)
Outcomes
Primary Outcomes
Inventory of Complicated Grief
Time Frame: 6 months post-loss
Complicated Grief symptoms at 6 months post-loss among children aged from 6 to 17 years Measured by the Inventory of Complicated Grief
Secondary Outcomes
- Determined if early factors could explain differences of symptoms of depression developement between the cause of death of the parent (cancer or another cause)(At 3 months post-loss)
- Evaluation of the impact of the cause of parents death (cancer or other cause) on complicated grief symptoms development.(At 6 and 12 months post-loss)
- Inventory of Complicated Grief for Evaluation of paths of grief symptoms developement(At 3 and 12 months post-loss)
- Influence of grief symptoms of the parent staying in life(At 3 months and 12 months post-loss)
- Evaluation of the impact of the cause of parents death (cancer or other cause) on post-traumatic stress developement.(At 6 and 12 months post-loss)
- Evaluation of the impact of the cause of parents death (cancer or other cause) on depression developement.(At 6 and 12 months post-loss)
- Determined if early factors could explain differences of symptoms of complicated grief between the cause of death of the parent (cancer or another cause)(At 3 months post-loss)
- Determined if early factors could explain differences of symptoms of post-traumatic stress developement between the cause of death of the parent (cancer or another cause)(At 3 months post-loss)