UNASSIGNED: The death of a parent can have profound negative impacts on children, and a lack of adequate support can exacerbate negative life experiences.
UNASSIGNED: To explore the influences of various actors on the content and execution of a bereavement programme within a Swedish context, considering relational and contextual perspectives.
UNASSIGNED: An ethnographic field study involving six children, their parents, and eight volunteers. A theory-inspired thematic analysis was conducted, methodically inspired by Braun and Clarke, theoretically inspired by Bourdieu\'s concepts of position, power, and capital.
UNASSIGNED: Confidentiality obligation was an essential element in the programme, however, the premisses varied depending on actors\' positions. Volunteers and researchers had different outlets to express their experiences in the program. The programme offered the children an exclusive space for talking about and sharing experiences and feelings. Simultaneously, the programme restricted the children by not allowing them to share their experiences and feelings outside the physical space. The physical settings shaped the different conditions for interactions among the actors. The sessions adopted loss-oriented approaches, where communication between volunteers and children was guided by the volunteers. However, children created strategies for additional, voiceless communication with their peers or themselves. During breaks and mingles, shared interests or spaces connected children (and adults) more than their common experience of parental bereavement.
UNASSIGNED: The participants in the programme were significantly influenced by the structural framework of the programme, and their positions within the programme provided them with different conditions of possibility for (inter)acting. Children\'s daily activities and interests were both ways to cope with parental bereavement and connect them to other people.

BACKGROUND: Annually, approximately five per cent of dependent children - aged under eighteen years - in the United Kingdom (UK), experience parental death. Nurses and social workers caring for parents with life-limiting illnesses, including cancer, help families support their children. However, these professionals have been found to lack confidence and competence in fulfilling this role.
METHODS: We conducted three rounds of a classic-Delphi survey to identify and measure a panel of topic experts\' consensus on the priorities and issues for nurses and social workers when supporting families and children through parental death. The Delphi survey was conducted with a panel of UK topic experts (n=43) including lead health and social care professionals (n=30), parents bereaved of a partner whilst parenting dependent children (n=6), academics (n=4) and bereaved young adults (n=3).
RESULTS: Ninety per cent (n=18/20) of the issues for nurses and social workers and all (7/7) of the priorities rated and ordered in the survey achieved consensus. Key priorities were 1) training in opening conversations with families about dependent children, 2) training and support for nurses and social workers to manage their own and others\' emotions arising from conversations with parents about children\'s needs regarding parental death, and 3) increasing nurses\' and social workers\' knowledge of sources of information to support families before the death of a parent.
CONCLUSIONS: We identified priorities for UK nurses and social workers. Further research is needed to identify which of these nurses and social workers would benefit most from support, and how any resultant interventions could enhance confidence and competence in helping families to support children through parental death.

Youth (those aged <18 years) parental death has been associated with negative health outcomes. Understanding the burden of parental death due to drug poisoning (herein, drugs) and firearms is essential for informing interventions.
To estimate the incidence of youth parental death due to drugs, firearms, and all other causes.
This cross-sectional observational study was conducted using vital registration, including all US decedents, and census data from January 1990 through December 2020. Data were analyzed from May 30, 2023, to March 28, 2024.
Parental death due to drug poisoning or firearms.
A demographic matrix projection model was used to estimate the number and incidence of youth experiencing parental death, defined as the death of 1 or more parents, per 1000 population aged less than 18 years. Analyses evaluated parental deaths by drugs, firearms, and all other causes from 1999 through 2020 by race and ethnicity.
Between 1999 and 2020, there were 931 785 drug poisoning deaths and 736 779 firearm-related deaths with a mean (SD) age of 42.6 (16.3) years. Most deaths occurred among males (73.8%) and White decedents (70.8%) followed by Black (17.5%) and Hispanic (9.5%) decedents. An estimated 759 000 (95% CI, 722 000-800 000) youth experienced parental death due to drugs and an estimated 434 000 (95% CI, 409 000-460 000) youth experienced parental death due to firearms, accounting for 17% of all parental deaths. From 1999 to 2020, the estimated number of youth who experienced parental death increased 345% (95% CI, 334%-361%) due to drugs and 39% (95% CI, 37%-41%) due to firearms compared with 24% (95% CI, 23%-25%) due to all other causes. Black youth experienced a disproportionate burden of parental deaths, based primarily on firearm deaths among fathers. In 2020, drugs and firearms accounted for 23% of all parental deaths, double the proportion in 1999 (12%).
Results of this modeling study suggest that US youth are at high and increasing risk of experiencing parental death by drugs or firearms. Efforts to stem this problem should prioritize averting drug overdoses and firearm violence, especially among structurally marginalized groups.

UNASSIGNED: The death of a parent is considered a normative event in midlife, but little is known about how this loss could affect the relationship between bereaved middle-aged adults and their grown children.
UNASSIGNED: Family systems theory postulates that the death of a family member can have a significant impact on the individual and other family members. The death of a parent is one of the most common types of loss in adulthood, which may signal a final transition into adulthood. The death of an older parent may lead to a reevaluation of one\'s own relationships with grown children.
UNASSIGNED: By using prospective data from the two waves of the Family Exchanges Study, the authors examined middle-aged adults\' experience of recent parental death and its impact on relationship qualities (i.e., negative, positive, ambivalent) with each of their grown children.
UNASSIGNED: When compared with the nonbereaved, bereaved participants who experienced the death of the last living parent reported increased positive relationship qualities with grown children. Among the bereaved participants, having more positive memories of the deceased parent was associated with decreased ambivalent relationship qualities with grown children.
UNASSIGNED: The findings suggest that the death of an older parent is a significant turning point in the life course and highlights the role of positive reflection in the context of intergenerational ties.

BACKGROUND: Older people with intellectual disabilities and their families report a lack of support for planning for parental death and transitions in care. This article aims to demonstrate the process of co-designing resources to support older people with intellectual disabilities and their families to plan for the future.
METHODS: Following interviews and focus groups with older people with intellectual disabilities and their families, we used an adapted experience-based co-design process to develop planning ahead resources. This included a \'trigger film\' summarising findings from the earlier interview study, 12 co-design workshops and a user feedback phase.
RESULTS: The co-design group developed a set of 102 \'Planning Ahead Cards\' to help families to talk about the future and prepare for meetings with social care professionals. The group made decisions about the content, format and design of resources, and how co-design workshops would run. The user feedback phase led to changes to the cards, and families and stakeholder groups suggested that they would be useful for planning ahead.
CONCLUSIONS: The Planning Ahead Cards may facilitate planning for parental death and transitions in care for older people with intellectual disabilities and their families. The co-design approach was key to ensuring that the resources were useful and accessible for families.
UNASSIGNED: People with intellectual disabilities and their families contributed to the design of the resources through the co-design workshops and feedback phase. The research team includes a research assistant with intellectual disabilities who co-facilitated co-design workshops and co-authored this article.

OBJECTIVE: To explore racial/ethnic differences in relation between types of bereavement and depressive symptoms among older adults in the USA.
METHODS: The sample limited to racially/ethnically diverse adults aged ≥55 (n = 879) was drawn from the third wave of the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP). The NSHAP provides self-identified racial/ethnic categories (non-Hispanic Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics) of respondents who were categorized into three groups by experience of bereavement: non-loss, spousal loss, and parental loss. Using the weights, a two-way analysis of covariance with Bonferroni post-test was conducted to explore the main effect of types of loss and race/ethnicity and their interaction effects on depressive symptoms.
RESULTS: Spousal loss reported higher levels of depressive symptoms than non-loss or parental loss. Based on the interaction between types of loss and race/ethnicity; however, distinctive patterns were observed. Blacks and Hispanics who lose a parent reported significantly higher levels of depressive symptoms than non-Hispanic Whites did.
CONCLUSIONS: An increase in depressive symptoms after bereavement manifested distinctively based on racial/ethnic background and the relationship with the deceased. This implies that it is necessary to develop coping strategies concerning race/ethnicity and whom they lose. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2024; 24: 266-272.

The death of a loved one can occur at any stage of life and can have a profound clinical impact on the patient. During childhood and adolescence, smoking has a functional impact on key aspects of family, school, and social life. The negative effects of parental death on children\'s mental health and its prevalence are unknown. Therefore, this systematic literature review aimed to describe the effects of parental death on children\'s mental health and its prevalence. The PubMed/Medline, WoS, and Cochrane Trials databases were searched for articles on patients aged 4-18 years. This review examines three articles. Anxiety and depression were identified as the predominant mental health outcomes, with a prevalence ranging from 7.5 % to 44.67 % of the mental health consequences associated with parental death.

Although parental death increases the risks of negative developmental outcomes, some individuals report personal growth, an outcome that has received little attention. We tested a developmental cascade model of postloss growth in 244 parentally bereaved youth (ages 8-16 at baseline) from 156 families who participated in a randomized controlled trial of a family-based intervention, the Family Bereavement Program (FBP). Using five waves of data, the present study examined the prospective associations between the quality of parenting immediately following the FBP and postloss growth 6 and 15 years later, and whether these associations were mediated by changes in intra- and interpersonal factors (mediators) during the initial 11 months following the FBP. The mediators were selected based on the theoretical and empirical literature on postloss growth in youth. Results showed that improved quality of parenting immediately following the FBP was associated with increased support-seeking behaviors and higher perceived parental warmth at the 11-month follow-up, both of which were related to postloss growth at the 6-year follow-up and 15-year follow-up. No support was found for the other hypothesized mediators that were tested: internalizing problems, intrusive grief thoughts, and coping efficacy. To promote postloss growth for parentally bereaved youth, bereavement services should target parent-child relationships that help youth feel a sense of parental warmth and acceptance and encourage youth to seek parental support. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

BACKGROUND: The psychological toll on parents of a child receiving a cancer diagnosis is known to be high, but there is a knowledge gap regarding suicidal behavior among these parents. The aim of this study was to investigate the risk of suicide attempt and death by suicide in relation to having a child with cancer.
RESULTS: We performed a binational population-based and sibling-controlled cohort study, including all parents with a child diagnosed with cancer in Denmark (1978 to 2016) or Sweden (1973 to 2014), 10 matched unexposed parents per exposed parent (population comparison), and unaffected full siblings of the exposed parents (sibling comparison). Suicide attempt was identified through the Patient Register and the Psychiatric Central Register in Denmark and the Patient Register in Sweden, whereas death by suicide was identified through the Danish Causes of Death Register and the Swedish Causes of Death Register. In population comparison, we used Cox regression to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of suicide attempt and death by suicide associated with cancer diagnosis of a child, adjusting for sex, age, country of residence, calendar year, marital status, highest attained educational level, household income, history of cancer, history of psychiatric disorder, and family history of psychiatric disorder. The sibling comparison was performed to assess the role of familial confounding in the studied associations. The population comparison consisted of 106,005 exposed parents and 1,060,050 matched unexposed parents, with a median age of 56 at cohort entry and 46.9% male. During the median follow-up of 7.3 and 7.2 years, we observed 613 (incidence rate [IR], 58.8 per 100,000 person-years) and 5,888 (IR, 57.1 per 100,000 person-years) cases of first-onset suicide attempt among the exposed and unexposed parents, respectively. There was an increased risk of parental suicide attempt during the first years after a child\'s cancer diagnosis (HR, 1.15; 95% CI, [1.03, 1.28]; p = 0.01), particularly when the child was 18 or younger at diagnosis (HR, 1.25; 95% CI, [1.08, 1.46]; p = 0.004), when the child was diagnosed with a highly aggressive cancer (HR, 1.60; 95% CI, [1.05, 2.43]; p = 0.03), or when the child died due to cancer (HR, 1.63; 95% CI, [1.29, 2.06]; p < 0.001). The increased risk did not, however, maintain thereafter (HR, 0.86; 95% CI: [0.75, 0.98]; p = 0.03), and there was no altered risk of parental death by suicide any time after the child\'s cancer diagnosis. Sibling comparison corroborated these findings. The main limitation of the study is the potential residual confounding by factors not shared between full siblings.
CONCLUSIONS: In this study, we observed an increased risk of parental suicide attempt during the first years after a child\'s cancer diagnosis, especially when the child was diagnosed during childhood, or with an aggressive or fatal form of cancer. There was, however, no altered risk of parental death by suicide at any time after a child\'s cancer diagnosis. Our findings suggest extended clinical awareness of suicide attempt among parents of children with cancer, especially during the first few years after cancer diagnosis.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between early life stress (ELS) and metabolic risk in healthy young adults and assess the role of health behaviors.
METHODS: Young adults aged 18 to 40 years ( N = 190) with no medical conditions or medication usage were recruited from the community. Participants with ELS ( N = 113) had a history of childhood maltreatment, and most also experienced parental loss ( n = 88). Controls ( N = 77) had no history of maltreatment or parental loss. Standardized interviews and self-reports assessed demographics, adversity, medical/psychiatric history, and health behaviors. Blood pressure and anthropometrics were measured, and fasting plasma assayed for lipid profiles, glucose, insulin level, and hemoglobin A 1c . We calculated both a clinical cut-point and continuous composite metabolic risk score based on clinical risk factors and the mean of z scores of each measure, respectively.
RESULTS: ELS was significantly associated with increased clinical cut-point ( β = 0.68, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.20-1.17, p = .006) and continuous ( β = 0.23, 95% CI = 0.08-0.038, p = .003) composite metabolic risk scores. On sensitivity analysis, the association of ELS with the continuous composite metabolic risk score was reduced to a trend after adjusting for a range of psychosocial and health predictors ( β = 0.18, 95% CI = 0.00-0.36, p = .053), with both diet and college graduate status significant in the model.
CONCLUSIONS: Healthy young adults with a history of ELS have increased metabolic risk scores as compared with controls. This relationship may be partially due to health behaviors and socioeconomic factors. These findings underline that ELS is an early contributor to metabolic risk.