Bereaved Parents' Narratives of Their Child Who Died of Cancer: A Qualitative Study

Humans use storytelling to create meaning from suffering, including after the death of a child. The elicitation of and response to stories remains underused in medicine, and in particular, within parental bereavement. Thus, we sought to explore how bereaved parents choose to share the story of their child.

This is a secondary analysis of a dual site, survey-based study of parents' experiences following their child's death from cancer 6 to 24 months earlier. Our qualitative inquiry focuses on inductive, iterative analysis of free-text responses to the following question: "If you would be willing to share, please tell us about your child. What would you like us to know about him/her?"

A total of 128 parents completed the survey; 101 parents (79%) representing 81 children shared stories about their child. Responses took the form of narratives that varied in terms of structure (eg, verb tense, subject, narrative arc) and content (eg, character development, narration/voice). Parents highlighted their child's appearance, traits, and passions. Most did not detail cancer history or death. Parent narratives progressed through themes of medicalization, humanization, and supernaturalization in the "character development" of their child, who was frequently characterized as "otherworldly."

Bereaved parents whose child died of cancer have a desire to tell their child's story. When given the opportunity, nearly 80% of parents in this study chose to share. Thematic progression may be a framework for narrative repair. Parental narratives of their deceased child provide new insights into their bereavement experience and may help to develop novel supportive interventions.