How parents of dependent children reason about their partner’s impending death due to cancer

There is new empirical evidence that the effects of impending death on cognition have been miscalculated because of neglect of the incidence of dropout and of practice gains during longitudinal studies. When these are taken into consideration, amounts and rates of cognitive declines preceding death and dropout are seen to be almost identical, and participants aged 49 to 93 years who neither dropout nor die show little or no decline during a 20-year longitudinal study. Practice effects are theoretically informative. Positive gains are greater for young and more intelligent participants and at all levels of intelligence and durations of practice; declines in scores of 10% or more between successive quadrennial test sessions are risk factors for mortality. Higher baseline intelligence test scores are also associated with reduced risk of mortality, even when demographics and socioeconomic advantage have been taken into consideration.

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Biblical Knowing Toward Death

10.1093/oso/9780198805694.003.0007 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

James A. Diamond

Keyword(s):

Hebrew Bible ◽

Philosophical Theology ◽

Human Beings ◽

Impending Death ◽

Ethics Law

This chapter examines the meaning of death for Jewish philosophical theology. How is the biblical view of life, ethics, law, and the pursuit of knowledge informed by the prospect of death or impending death? The Hebrew Bible is bracketed by the question of death, from the death at history’s inception that Adam and all subsequent human beings anticipate, to Moses’ unique death that awaits no other human at the Torah’s conclusion. Close readings of these narratives yield the notion that death allows for the potential of the absolutely supreme act of dying for others that informs all other acts of self-sacrifice. All the biblical cases focusing on a yearning for death or suicide, relating to Moses, Saul, Elijah, Jonah, Samson, and Job, involve this notion of a death on behalf of others.

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‘Living in parallel worlds’ – bereaved parents’ experience of family life when a parent with dependent children is at end of life from cancer: A qualitative study

Palliative Medicine ◽

10.1177/02692163211001719 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 026921632110017

Author(s):

Cherith J Semple ◽

Eilís McCaughan ◽

Esther R Beck ◽

Jeffrey R Hanna

Keyword(s):

End Of Life ◽

Psychosocial Adjustment ◽

Family Life ◽

Life Experience ◽

Qualitative Interviews ◽

Later Life ◽

Support Service ◽

Dependent Children ◽

Bereaved Parents ◽

Death Of A Parent

Background: When a parent of dependent children (<18 years old) is at end of life from cancer, this has a profound impact on the family. Children less prepared for the death of a parent are more susceptive to poorer psychosocial adjustment in later life. There is a lack of understanding from the literature surrounding what support parents require, and how they navigate this end of life experience. Aim: To explore bereaved parents’ experience and needs for families when a parent is at end of life from cancer with dependent children. Design: In-depth, semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with 21 bereaved mothers and fathers, identified from the general public, a family support service and hospice. Data were analysed thematically. Results: Parents often live in ‘parallel worlds’ throughout the end of life period. In one world, ‘living in the moment’, cherishing the ordinariness of family life, remaining hopeful treatment will prolong life, whilst adapting as the illness unfolds. The other world presents as ‘intermitted glimpses that death is approaching’, shadowed with painful emotional concerns surrounding their children and the future. At the end, death rapidly approaches, characterised as suddenly ‘falling off the cliff’; placing significant demands on the well-parent. Conclusions: Amidst challenges, clinicians should provide parents with clear information surrounding a poor prognosis, so families can plan and prepare for parental death. There is a need for healthcare professionals to engage, encourage and equip parents, as they prepare their children throughout the end of life experience for the inevitable death of a parent.

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DEPENDENT CHILDREN

The Medical Journal of Australia ◽

10.5694/j.1326-5377.1965.tb72322.x ◽

1965 ◽

Vol 1 (23) ◽

pp. 863-864

Keyword(s):

Dependent Children

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A Comparison of Coping Strategies Among Homeless Women With Dependent Children and Homeless Women Without Children

Families in Society The Journal of Contemporary Social Services ◽

10.1177/1044389420978116 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 104438942097811

Author(s):

Jennifer L. Talley ◽

Patti Hammonds-Greene

Keyword(s):

Social Networks ◽

Multivariate Analysis ◽

Problem Solving ◽

Coping Strategies ◽

Statistical Difference ◽

Univariate Analysis ◽

Homeless Women ◽

Homeless Shelters ◽

Problem Solving Skills ◽

Dependent Children

The purpose of this study was to compare the coping strategies between homeless women with dependent children and homeless women without dependent children. Of the 192 homeless women in this study, 64 were mothers whose dependent children lived with them, and 132 were women who did not have dependent children living with them. The women were recruited from homeless shelters in Georgia, in the Metro Atlanta area and surrounding counties. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used to test the differences between both groups using their scores on the Coping Strategies Inventory scales survey instrument (problem-solving skills, problem reframing, and ability to access social networks). Univariate analysis was used to look at each dependent variable. There was no statistical difference in coping strategies between both groups. The conclusions from this study suggest continued research regarding the benefit of coping strategies among homeless populations.

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Looking into the life of technology-dependent children and their caregivers in Korea: lifting the burden of too many responsibilities

BMC Pediatrics ◽

10.1186/s12887-020-02388-z ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Yu Hyeon Choi ◽

Min Sun Kim ◽

Cho Hee Kim ◽

In Gyu Song ◽

June Dong Park ◽

...

Keyword(s):

South Korea ◽

Home Care ◽

Time Pressure ◽

Economic Status ◽

Financial Burden ◽

Primary Caregivers ◽

Healthcare Services ◽

Tertiary Hospital ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Dependent Children

Abstract Background The number of technology-dependent children (TDC) is increasing in South Korea, but available healthcare services after their discharge are poor. This study aimed to examine how TDC and caregivers live at home and identify their difficulties and needs regarding home care with few services to support them. Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted in a tertiary hospital for children in South Korea. A self-reported questionnaire was completed by primary caregivers of TDC who were younger than 19 years and had been dependent on medical devices for more than 3 months. Technologies included home mechanical ventilation, oxygen supplementation, suction equipment, enteral feeding tube, and home total parenteral nutrition. Patterns of healthcare use and home care of TDC and caregivers’ perception toward child were assessed. Results A total of 74 primary caregivers of TDC completed a self-reported questionnaire. About 60% children were aged under 5 years. There were 31.1% children who required both respiratory and nutritional support. On average, caregivers took care of a child for 14.4 (±6.1) hours, slept for 5.6 (±1.6) hours, and spent 2.4 h per day on personal activities. Children used hospital services for 41.3 (±45.6) days in 6 months, and most (78.1%) were transported through private car/ambulance. Participants (75.6%) reported taking more than an hour to get to the hospital. More than 80% of caregivers responded that child care is physically very burdensome. The only statistically significant relationships was between economic status and financial burden (p = 0.026). Conclusions Caregivers of TDC reported having significant time pressure regarding childcare-related tasks, insufficient time for personal activities, and inefficient hospital use because of inadequate medical services to support them in South Korea. Thus, it is necessary to support caregivers and develop a home care model based on current medical environment.

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