Experiencing Your Child’s Transition From Curative to Palliative Care
Accompanying a dying child from cancer and mourning their loss is an upsetting and painful experience that no parent wants to face. In North America, tens of thousands of children are living with cancer (Snaman et al., 2020). In Canada, 20% of children with cancer will not survive their disease (Canadian Cancer Society, 2021). The parents of these children are their primary caregivers. However, the psychological and social process, together with these parents’ psychosocial needs during the end-of-life care of their child with cancer is poorly documented. This article presents a synthesis of what is known about the experience of parents who accompany their child with cancer to end-of-life care in a psychosocial perspective. It first describes the transition from curative to palliative care of a child with advanced cancer. Second, it outlines the main psychosocial factors that influence the parents’ experience of the child’s care trajectory, from the announcement of the disease to the bereavement period. Finally, recommendations for improving the psychosocial support offered to parents throughout the child’s trajectory of care, including the palliative and bereavement phases, are proposed.