Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 19, 2026
Proton Therapy Delivery and Its Clinical Application in Select Solid Tumor Malignancies
Published on: February 6, 2019
[Talking about death to children with cancer]
M Hernández Núñez-Polo1, R Lorenzo González, E Catá del Palacio
1Unidad de Onco-Hematología y Trasplante de progenitores hematopoyéticos, Hospital Infantil Universitario Niño Jesús, Madrid, España. psicooncohnjs@gmail.com
Insights
Children in palliative care have varying levels of awareness about their impending death. Younger children (3-6 years) often possess more information than older children (7-11 years), contrary to expectations, due to their conceptualization of death.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Oncology
- Palliative Care
- Child Psychology
Context:
- Multidisciplinary care is crucial for pediatric cancer patients, especially during palliative phases.
- Information provision is a key skill in managing end-of-life care for children.
- Understanding children's awareness of their own death is vital for effective communication and support.
Purpose:
- To explore the level of information children in palliative care possess regarding their own death.
- To analyze the relationship between a child's age, their understanding of death, and parental communication.
- To investigate how different developmental stages influence a child's perception and knowledge of mortality.
Summary:
- A retrospective study of 45 pediatric oncology inpatients (2006-2007) examined psychosocial variables related to death awareness.
- Findings indicate a complex relationship between age and information about death, with younger children (3-6 years) showing more awareness than older children (7-11 years).
- Discrepancies between children's knowledge and parental disclosures highlight challenges in discussing end-of-life issues, potentially influenced by parental overprotection and differing death concepts.
Impact:
- The study underscores the need for age-appropriate and sensitive communication strategies in pediatric palliative care.
- Results suggest that a child's developmental stage and conceptualization of death significantly impact their understanding of terminal illness.
- Highlights the importance of addressing parental communication barriers to ensure children receive adequate and honest information during their end-of-life journey.
Introduction:
Paediatric cancer treatment includes a multidisciplinary intervention in all treatment phases, and particularly in the palliative phase. One of the main skills is information. This study tries to explore the level of information that children on palliative care have about their own death.
Sample And Methods:
We retrospectively collected the psychosocial variables of 45 oncology patients who died as inpatients in the Hospital Niño Jesús Hospital (HNJS) between 2006 and 2007. The concept of death is analysed according to each child development stage.
Results:
We found a relationship between the age of the children and the information they have about their own death, as well as a statistical significance between the information that the child has and the information received from their parents. Children between 3 to 6 years old have more information about their own death than children between 7 to 11 years old.
Conclusions:
Our results confirmed that the older age group had more information on their imminent death. However children between 3 to 6 years old have more information than children between 7 to 11 years old. Probably as children between 3 to 6 years old have a magical concept of death, it makes it easier to talk about their terminal phase. Over-protection and the difficulty to talk about death shows differences between what children know and what parents tell them about their palliative phase.
Related Concept Videos
02:12What is Cancer?
Although people have known about cancer for centuries, it was only in 1761 that Giovanni Morgagni of Padua performed a detailed autopsy of patients who died from...
02:12What is Cancer?
Although people have known about cancer for centuries, it was only in 1761 that Giovanni Morgagni of Padua performed a detailed autopsy of patients who died from...
01:21Kubler Ross's Stages of Dying
In denial, individuals reject the reality of their condition, often thinking, "This isn't true; I feel fine," as a way to protect themselves from emotional distress. Anger...
02:49Cancer Therapies
However, cancer treatments can pose several challenges, as therapies used to kill cancer cells are generally also toxic to normal cells. Moreover, cancer cells mutate rapidly and can develop resistance to chemical agents or radiation therapy. Besides, all types of cancer cells may not respond to the same therapy. Some cancer cells respond to one...
02:49Cancer Therapies
However, cancer treatments can pose several challenges, as therapies used to kill cancer cells are generally also toxic to normal cells. Moreover, cancer cells mutate rapidly and can develop resistance to chemical agents or radiation therapy. Besides, all types of cancer cells may not respond to the same therapy. Some cancer cells respond to one...
01:21Cancer Survival Analysis