The impact of a grief workshop for pediatric oncology nurses on their grief and perceived stress

Coping with the death of a pediatric patient with whom the nurses has developed a close relationship is reported by nurses as the most stressful experience of being a pediatric nurse. Such losses are inevitable for a pediatric nurse regardless of subspecialty and can contribute to a nurse leaving the specialty or the discipline. To prevent those consequences, nurses' grief needs to be acknowledged, and their grieving needs to be facilitated. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of a grief workshop on grief symptoms and perceived stress in two groups of pediatric oncology nurses who differed in years of experience in the specialty. Study findings indicated that the workshop affected the two groups differently, with the more experienced nurses reporting significantly higher stress levels after the workshop than did the less experienced nurses. Study findings are interpreted and recommendations for future work are offered.