Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA; Psychology Service, Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX, USA.
Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA.
Lancet Child Adolesc Health. 2020 Dec;4(12):889-898. doi: 10.1016/S2352-4642(20)30184-X.
Death of a parent in childhood and adolescence is a distressing life event. Childhood grief reactions are distinct from those in adults, and are affected by developmental and contextual factors such as age of the child and changes in caregiving environments. Following parental bereavement, children and adolescents face unique emotional and behavioural challenges, and are susceptible to several adverse biopsychosocial outcomes. Empirically supported interventions can help young people to navigate the many grief-related challenges, and the core treatment components include grief psychoeducation, building emotion identification and regulation skills, cognitive coping and restructuring, grief and trauma processing, memorialising and continuing bonds, meaning making, involvement of caregivers in grief treatment, and future planning. Health-care professionals often interact with children and adolescents following bereavement; therefore, it is important they have the foundational knowledge and skills to communicate effectively about the death, recognise and normalise different ways grief can manifest across development, and support surviving caregivers in facilitating adaptive grief in their children.
儿童和青少年时期父母的死亡是一件令人痛苦的生活事件。儿童的悲伤反应与成年人不同，受到发育和环境因素的影响，如儿童的年龄和照顾环境的变化。在父母去世后，儿童和青少年面临着独特的情感和行为挑战，容易受到多种不良生物心理社会结果的影响。经过实证支持的干预措施可以帮助年轻人应对许多与悲伤相关的挑战，核心治疗组成部分包括悲伤心理教育、建立情绪识别和调节技能、认知应对和重构、悲伤和创伤处理、纪念和延续联系、意义构建、让照顾者参与悲伤治疗以及未来规划。医疗保健专业人员在丧亲后经常与儿童和青少年互动；因此，他们需要具备有效的沟通技巧，了解死亡，认识到并规范不同发展阶段悲伤的表现方式，以及支持幸存的照顾者帮助他们的孩子适应悲伤。
