Pediatric Intensive Care Unit Bereavement Study

Grief is expected after the death of a loved one. Most bereaved persons work through the grief process successfully. Others develop complicated grief, a pattern of extreme or prolonged symptoms that are associated with adverse mental and physical health outcomes. A multicenter, prospective survey study was conducted to investigate the extent of complicated grief symptoms and associated risk factors among parents whose child died in a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). Surveys were conducted over the phone or sent in the mail at 6 months and 18 months after the child’s death.