[Anticipatory grief in adolescents and young adults coping with parental cancer]

By the current state of research, it cannot be answered clearly how adolescents experience anticipatory grief and if and to which extent this process differs from anticipatory grief of adults. The present study will fill this gap by providing both a quantitative and a qualitative description of anticipatory grief processes. Therefore, 74 adolescents and young adults (11-21 years), whose parents have suffered from cancer, completed an adapted version of the "Trauerfragebogen" (Weiser u. Ochsmann, 2002). Additionally a subsample of n = 38 took part in a qualitative guided interview. Based on these interviews, 16 categories were formed, that were assigned to two types of stressors. Beside communication and prioritization of family, different symptoms of grief were the central category in the loss-oriented type, where fears of loss, compassion and concern were of crucial importance. Also categories of the restoration-oriented type were strongly present. Thus, it seems that young people generally manage to accept their new role in the stressful family situation and they have a series of coping mechanisms available to do so. This was also reflected in the quantitative data, were the subscale "Inner Strength" reached the highest value. In the counselling of adolescents with cancer-diseased parents, both loss-oriented and restoration-oriented processes should equally be recognized and encouraged.