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Do bereaved children consult the primary health care team more frequently?
M Lloyd-Williams1, C Wilkinson, F F Lloyd-Williams
1Leicestershire Hospice, UK.
Insights
Children who lost a parent before age 18 visited their doctor more often, especially around the time of the death. Their support needs were not met, highlighting a gap in primary health care services for bereaved children.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Health
- Bereavement Studies
- Primary Health Care Research
Background:
- Childhood bereavement affects 2% of individuals before age 18.
- Limited community support exists for bereaved children.
- The impact of parental loss on primary health care utilization is understudied.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if children bereaved of a parent consult the primary health care team more frequently than non-bereaved peers.
- To explore consultation patterns before and after parental bereavement.
- To assess the unmet support needs of bereaved children within primary care.
Main Methods:
- A record-based, case-controlled pilot study.
- Involved 13 children bereaved of a father due to malignant disease over a 2-year period.
- Age and sex-matched controls were used for comparison.
Main Results:
- Bereaved children attended the general practice surgery more frequently than controls.
- Consultation frequency increased in the year preceding and following bereavement.
- Over one-third of post-bereavement consultations were for symptoms with no organic cause.
Conclusions:
- Parental bereavement is associated with increased primary health care utilization in children.
- Current primary health care services may not adequately address the support needs of bereaved children.
- Further research is needed to optimize primary health care support for childhood bereavement.
Abstract:
It is known that 2% of all children are bereaved of a parent before the age of 18, but there is little support available for these bereaved children in the community. It is not known if these children consult the primary health care team more frequently than their non-bereaved peers. A record-based, case-controlled pilot study of 13 bereaved children over a 2-year period was carried out in a group general practice. All children had been bereaved of a father through malignant disease, and were from seven families. Children who had been bereaved of a parent attended the surgery more frequently than their age/sex-matched controls. There was an observed increase in the frequency of consultations both in the year preceding and following the bereavement. Post-bereavement, over one-third of consultations were for symptoms for which no organic cause could be found. The support needs of these bereaved children did not appear to be addressed. Further research is required to investigate the optimum means of providing support by the primary health care team for the small but significant number of children who are bereaved each year.