Objective: The death of one’s child may negatively affect parental health. Existing models exploring parental bereavement do not provide sufficient frameworks to understand the complexities of health outcomes. The purpose of this study was to examine the health status of bereaved parents. Method: Cross-sectional retrospective study of bereaved parents whose children died at this hospital between 2002 and 2019. A study-specific demographic questionnaire, the National Institutes of Health Roadmap Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) initiative. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the PROMIS v1.0 Emotional Distress–Depression—Short Form 8a (Pilkonis et al., 2011). PROMIS measures (depressive symptoms, anxiety, applied cognitive functioning, physical functioning, sleep disturbance), and a measure of posttraumatic growth were mailed and included a link to self-enter data via Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap, n.d.) or return paper copies. Results: One hundred fifty surveys were returned (22% response rate). Mean participant age was 41.6 years (SD = 10.3 years; 83% female). Participants’ health history responses show greater prevalence of depressive symptoms, anxiety, and sleep disorders after their child’s death. The largest difference on PROMIS measures was poorer physical function in the bereaved cohort than in the general population. There were no differences in PROMIS scores based on participant gender or on the presence of surviving siblings. Among those reporting smoking or alcohol consumption, qualitative data suggest that although some might increase use, such use might decrease over time. Conclusions: Bereaved parents manifest poorer psychological and cognitive functioning, and their physical functioning was substantially poorer than the general population mean. Bereaved parents may benefit from proactive guidance normalizing potential challenges to health status and behavior, including appropriate psychoeducational resources.
Implications for Impact Statement
Bereaved parents have poorer physical and mental health when compared with the general population. Clinicians that care for these parents must offer health promotion and disease prevention measures early to improve their long-term health outcomes.
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