NCT03330145

Complicated Grief Among Children After a Death From Cancer or Another Cause: A Longitudinal and Prospective Study (CAPS)

Risk Factors for Complicated Grief After a Death From Cancer or an Other Cause: A Longitudinal and Prospective Study Among Children and Their Parents

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 38 (actual)
• Sponsor: University Hospital, Toulouse · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 6 Years – 17 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

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.

Conditions

• Grief

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Scales, questionnaires and inventory	Children will complete scales, questionnaires and inventory at 3 months post-loss and only 2 scales at 6 and 12 month post-loss

Timeline

• Start date: 2015-11-01
• Primary completion: 2020-04-01
• Completion: 2020-05-01
• First posted: 2017-11-06
• Last updated: 2021-07-26

Locations

1 site across 1 country: France