Supporting Parent Caregivers of Children with Life-Limiting Illness

Abstract

The well-being of parents is essential to the well-being of children with life-limiting illness. Parents are vulnerable to a range of negative financial, physical, and psychosocial issues due to caregiving tasks and other stressors related to the illness of their child. Pediatric palliative care practitioners provide good care to children by supporting their parents in decision-making and difficult conversations, by managing pain and other symptoms in the ill child, and by addressing parent and family needs for care coordination, respite, bereavement, and social and emotional support. No matter the design or setting of a pediatric palliative care team, practitioners can seek to provide for parent needs by referral or intervention by the care team.

Keywords

• palliative care
• special needs
• parent
• respite
• life-limiting illness
• caregiver
• pediatric
• psychosocial
• stress
• medically complex