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Multiple losses within short time periods make one question life and can exponentially influence one's coping skills. But what are the effects on a child and what should be done when the next loss occurs? This case addresses the multiple losses suffered by a child while assessing coping skills of the child and coping strategies used by the parents to assist the child. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on children's perceptions of death. Attitude towards death; Inclusion of the concept of death into the curriculum of schools; Ways schools can assist teachers in helping students deal with the issue of death.

The rapidly increasing mortality rate among adults due to the AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa has raised concerns about intergenerational effects, including child education. A major difficulty in measuring the effect of adult mortality, especially attributable to AIDS, is that it is caused by behavioral choices rather than by random events. The determinants of households afflicted by prime-age adult mortality are as follows: positive correlation between the lagged HIV prevalence rate and the working-age adult mortality; additional male member in the household; having a title deed for at least part of one's land. Moreover, the effects are characterized as sensitive to the sex of the child, the initial wealth of the household, and the timing of the death. This article focuses on the impact of working-age adult mortality on child primary school attendance in rural Kenya.

Focuses on the encounters of teachers in special education with more children with life-threatening conditions in the U.S. Provision of services to students by school personnel; Means of understanding the implications of death; Lack of preservice or inservice education about grief and the grieving process. INSETS: Suggested Administrative Grief Plan;Resources for Teachers;How Can I Support Myself?;How Can I Support My Colleagues?

The aim of this paper is to account for the effect of mother's death on child survival in a historical population. Using comprehensive data on the early French Canadian population of Quebec, evidence is provided for a higher risk of dying for motherless children that remains significant over all childhood and long after the death of the mother. The specific effect of the loss of maternal care was estimated by comparing mortality before and after mother's death, furnishing a means to control for family heterogeneity. No differential in investment between genders was detected before age 3, but older girls suffered a three-fold higher susceptibility to mother's death than their male counterparts. This suggests that grown-up girls assuming the responsibilities of the missing mother had a lower chance of survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children aged 7 and 11 years were interviewed about death in the context of two different narratives. Each narrative described the death of a grandparent but one narrative provided a secular context whereas the other provided a religious context. Following each narrative, children were asked to judge whether various bodily and mental processes continue to function after death, and to justify their judgment. Children displayed two different conceptions of death. They often acknowledged that functioning ceases at death and offered appropriate biological justifications for that judgment. However, they also claimed that functioning continues after death and offered appropriate religious justifications. The tendency to claim that functioning continues after death was more frequent among older children than younger children, more frequent in the context of the religious narrative as opposed to the secular narrative and more frequent with respect to mental processes than bodily processes. Particularly among older children, two distinct conceptions of death appear to co-exist: a biological conception in which death implies the cessation of living processes and a metaphysical conception in which death marks the beginning of the afterlife. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although prevention of youth suicide is a major aim in most countries, it often is not taken into account that younger children also are capable of killing themselves. Evidence suggests that the suicide rate among children has increased dramatically and that risk factors for suicide must be evaluated when dealing with children in primary and secondary care. Adverse life events in combination with other factors, such as depression, may lead to suicide. This article aims at stimulating further discussion among those involved in pediatric health care. Epidemiological data, an overview of risk factors, and the authors' reflections on the topic are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Entamoeba histolytica is considered a public health problem due to its high prevalence and its consequences for the affected individuals, and especially in children where it can cause death. Few studies of the prevalence of this parasite have been carried out in northeastern Venezuela, and for this reason feces samples from 400 patients with gastrointestinal symptoms of diarrhea, of all ages and both sexes were studied, in order to determine the prevalence of complex Entamoeba histolytica/Entamoeba dispar and its association with other parasites. Samples were analyzed copro-parasitologically using 0.85% saline physiological and lugol solution, trichromic staining, hidden blood tests and concentration tests elaborated by Ritchie. An interview was made with each participant in order to register epidemiological and clinical data. A prevalence of 16.0% (n=64) for complex Entamoeba histolytica/Entamoeba dispar was found. Other frequently observed parasites were Blastocystis hominis 19.3% (n=77), Entamoeba coli 9.3% (n=37), Endolimax nana 8.0% (n=32), Giardia lamblia 5.8% (n=23), Trichuris trichiura 4.0% (n=i6), Ascaris lumbricoides 3.8% (n=i5). About 15.5% of the patients showed multiparasitic infections and 37% presented only one parasite. Blastocystis hominis was the species most frequently associated with complex Entamoeba histolytica/Entamoeba dispar 10.9% (n=7). Symptoms were variable, including vomiting (26.6%), nausea (39-i%), abdominal pain (68.8%), fever (28.1%) and flatulence (65.6%). The presence of amoebas was not statistically associated with sex C(-=0.46, p>0.05), but it was related to age (x^=i6.63, p<0.05), and the age group from 10-19 years old was the most affected. The prevalence of intestinal parasites, especially for complex Entamoeba histolytica/Entamoeba dispar, indicated that this is an important problem which needs to be addressed by sanitation authorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the potential influence of Disney films on children's concepts of death. A content analysis was performed on 23 death scenes from 10 selected full-length Disney Classic animated films. The portrayal of death focused on five categories: character status; depiction of death; death status; emotional reaction; and causality. The findings indicate that some animated Disney films present scenes that eclipse the permanence and irreversibility of death and often leave deaths (especially those of villains) emotionally unacknowledged. Previous work has shown that many children tend not to discuss death with their friends or parents for many reasons. More importantly, the films may serve as catalysts to introduce the concept of death into discussions between children, peers, and adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes the development and deployment of a framework for measuring parenting capacities in the context of bereavement. Grounded theoretical analysis of interviews with a community sample of 41 bereaved spouses with school-aged children elicited a set of nine bereavement-specific parenting tasks. A corollary coding system (covering all nine parenting tasks) was created to transform interview materials into quantitative data, thus permitting systematic empirical investigation of the parenting capacities of bereaved spouses. Parenting behaviors were coded on a 5-point scale ranging from least child-centered to most child-centered. Sex of surviving parent and circumstances of death proved to be significant mediating variables: mothers were more child-centered than fathers, and parents surviving sudden deaths more child-centered than those surviving anticipated deaths. Lengthy illness was associated with less child-centered parenting. The more child-centered the parenting, the less symptomatic the child as measured by parent report (Child Behavior Checklist) and child self-report (Children's Depression Inventory, Revised Child Manifest Anxiety Scale). Child-centered parenting was associated with more positive and fewer negative perceptions of the surviving parent by the child as measured by the Parent Perception Inventory. Implications of findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A qualitative, community study of 58 parentally bereaved children and their 35 surviving parents illustrates how families take advantage of forewarning of death to foster connections between children and dying parents and prepare for youngsters' continued attachment to dying parents after the death. Children and parents displayed strong yearnings to remain connected during terminal illness, but fostering connections for attachment after the death was less intuitive and more emotional fraught as it undermined coping strategies based on denial of impending death. Thus, although some may benefit from interventions aimed at anticipatory relationship facilitation, clinicians should respect limitations on what family members are psychologically able to bear. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an assessment of family life, education needs, knowledge and attitudes of child laborers and their parents. In a survey on working children in Bangalore, India found that 43.8 per cent of the children are forced into employments to take over the adult roles as earning members and principal bread winners of the family due to death, disability ill health of one or both the parents. Among working girls, 60.7 percent were found to have adverse family conditions forcing them to seek wage labor. The educated among the working children feel that their parents are not as responsible as they should have been, 12.3 per cent assumed marginal to major responsibilities. About 90 per cent working children take over adult roles at an age when they should be spending their childhood playing. Other contributing factors of child labor is the low cost and the volume of work that can be done by the children in industries with nimble figures. In fact, it ensures employers more margin of profit over less investments, making it exploitative labor.

Approximately 25% of children with cancer die of their disease. Early in the course of a patient's illness, it is often impossible to determine whether the disease will be cured with cancer-directed treatment. When potentially curative therapy is no longer an option, the patient, family, and oncology team face enormous medical, psychological, and spiritual challenges. Optimal palliative care requires willingness on the part of the physician and caregiver team to engage the patient and family in discussions of their hopes and fears and to provide solace and support for emotional and physical pain. Using the comments of a child in the terminal phase of acute leukemia, his mother, and his physician, we describe opportunities and important lessons often revealed only when families and their caregivers face the end of a child's life. A broad-minded assessment of the patient's and family's physical, emotional, and spiritual needs and clarification of realistic goals and hopes not only improves the clinical care that the patient receives but also contributes to the sense of satisfaction and meaning that the physician can gain from the experience of caring for children at the end of life. INSETS: Box 1. Structuring a Conference on Presenting Bad News to Famili;Box 2. Examples of Honest Dialogue;Box 3. Community Constraints in the Provision of Optimal Care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This case report discusses the cause of death in a 3-year-old child who survived a high dose (20 mg·kg−1·h−1) of propofol, infused over a period of 15 h, following which the patient developed a combined respiratory and metabolic acidosis, the oxygenation remaining normal. Bronchospasm was assumed to be the cause of hypercapnia. At this time the doctors in charge did not think of a possible side-effect of propofol. The administration of propofol was interrupted, the patient recovered within 13 h from the acidosis, woke up and required further sedation. A supposedly entirely safe infusion of 4 mg·kg−1·h−1 propofol, as recommended in the literature for up to 48 h, was administered. After only 8 h intractable bradycardic dysrhythmias occurred. Although pharmacokinetic studies have pointed to a possible accumulation of propofol during continuous infusions, an interruption of an infusion for several hours has been considered sufficient for practically total clearance of the drug from the body. In this case re-exposure with a recommended dose of propofol was accompanied by bradycardia and dysrythmias that proved to be resistant to therapy and led to fatal cardiac insufficiency with a functioning artificial pacemaker in place. This case raises concerns about the safety of long-term infusions of propofol for sedation in children and possibly also in adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper discusses elements of the findings of ‘Iceberg’, a doctoral study at the University of York addressing many issues of child bereavement through a retrospective study of nearly one hundred individuals who had either experienced the death of a parent when they were at school, or were the surviving parent of such a child. The research revealed issues of lack of control and information for children after a parental death. Forty-seven per cent of those in the study attended the funeral of their parent. There was correlation between the age of children and attendance at the funeral. Of the fifty-three per cent of children not attending, twenty-four per cent of them were forbidden to attend, whilst eleven per cent of them were distracted from attending the funeral, such as being sent to school or a neighbours and being unaware that it was taking place. None of the children attending the funeral reported any negative experiences, and two thirds of them reported it as a positive or helpful event. In contrast, over three-quarters of those not attending later wished that they had. Over a third had feelings of regret, others feeling that they had been excluded from the family at the time of the death, and felt anger, hurt, and frustration. The conclusion was that the best strategy is to give children informed choice about whether or not to attend. If children do attend a negative outcome seems unlikely, but it would be prudent to prepare them as to what to expect at the ceremony. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect on children of the murder of a parent by the other parent, uxoricide, is immediate and devastating. Usually in a single act, the child loses both parents, one to death and the other to the criminal justice system. This is a report on a qualitative study, with a sample of seven adults, designed to explore the experiences of these children as they grow to adulthood. The major themes developed in the data analysis include (1) a surprising lack of anger regarding the perpetrator, (2) intimate abuse in later personal relationships, and (3) a beginning description of paths to recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Elsewhere (see "Bereavement, Grief, and Mourning in Death-Related Literature for Children" in this special issue) I have explained that as I prepared a series of annotated bibliographies on death-related literature for children and adolescents (Corr, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003a, 2003b), I realized that this literature was rich in many not-very-well explored topics. In particular, it struck me that themes related to spirituality often appear in this literature. Nevertheless, it does not appear that any formal studies of the spiritual dimensions that appear in this body of literature have been published in any of the major professional journals in the field of dying, death, and bereavement. In this article, I offer an initial attempt at rectifying that apparent gap in attention. I also hope to stimulate increased appreciation of this and other interesting facets of death-related literature that is intended to be read by or with children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In preparing a series of annotated bibliographies on death-related literature for children and adolescents (Corr, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003a, 2003b), it became evident that this literature discusses topics related to bereavement, grief, and mourning in a variety of ways. That should not be surprising, since much of this literature was written to help children cope with experiences of death and loss. What is surprising, however, is the apparent absence of formal studies of bereavement issues in this body of literature in the major professional journals in the field of dying, death, and bereavement. This article is an initial attempt at rectifying that apparent gap in attention. It is also an effort to stimulate increased appreciation of these and other noteworthy aspects of death-related literature written to be read by or with children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores bibliotherapy as a process in which death-related literature is used to help bereaved children cope with experiences of death and loss. For that exploration, this article defines bibliotherapy, offers an argument in support of its value, and suggests how a potential bibliotherapist might begin. Suggestions are made for selecting and using stories in bibliotherapy. Since most bibliotherapy is actually used as an optional tool in bereavement support groups, guidelines are offered as to how it might best be implemented in that context. Much of this discussion is also relevant to the use of bibliotherapy on a one-to-one basis involving a particular child and an adult guide. Examples of stories and books for children that I have used in bibliotherapy are mentioned throughout this article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I liked that the book was a coloring book, because I think young kids would look at the book many times while they are coloring . . . making kids informed is the best place to start. Trenton Cary, nine-year-old heart recipient in his UNOS review of Precious Gifts: Katie Coolican's Story There has been an exponential growth in literature for children over the last two decades, particularly in the areas of death, dying, and bereavement. Publicly breaking the silence on such tough issues is due, in part, to the late Fred Rogers (1928-2003) and his groundbreaking work on children's television programs. Mr. Rogers developed rapport and trust with his young audience that made it safe to address painful topics and teach children how to cope with many different types of loss and transition. When a beloved Sesame Street character, Mr. Hooper, died in the late 1970s, Mr. Rogers appeared on the program to explain death, to commemorate, and to comfort Mr. Hooper's friends on- and off-screen. At about the same time, the Association for Death Education and Counseling, the National Funeral Director's Association, Compassion Books, Centering Corporation, and other such organizations made it their mission to educate children and their adult caregivers about death-related issues. Drawing from the many wonderful children's books now available, this article will focus on the developmental rationale for, and the unique contribution of, activity books for bereaved children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The children found a dead bird. They wrapped it up. They buried it. They said some words and felt sad. They brought flowers for a few days. Then they forgot. This is the theme of the story in the first modern, in-print, actual hold-in-your-hands children's book about grief in my memory--The Dead Bird, by Margaret Wise Brown. It was dear to me because she wrote the first edition the year I was born, 1938, making me one of the gray-haired grandmothers and leaving Wise Brown dead now for more than 45 years. When my husband, Marv, and I founded Centering Corporation in 1977, The Dead Bird was the only book we could find for children. I'm sure there were others; we just didn't find them. They were hidden. Grief wasn't "in" then, and definitely not for children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The death of a pet--or, as some prefer to call it, a companion animal--is a frequent subject in death-related literature for children. Pets are important to children for many reasons; for example, they serve as friends, playmates, and sources of unconditional love. In addition, pets help teach children about the responsibilities that are involved in caring for another living creature. Also, because the life cycles of most animals that become pets are much shorter than those of the humans who care for them, pets often teach children important lessons about loss, death, grief, and coping. For all of these reasons, when I began writing about death-related literature for children my attention was soon drawn to books within that general category that told stories about the death of a pet. In this article, my purpose is to describe and examine a selected sample of 20 books for children whose principal subject or story line is concerned with pet loss. Full bibliographical information for each of these books appears in the list of "Children's Literature" at the end of this article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I want to explore some of the ways in which grandparents are represented as sharing death and loss experiences in death-related literature designed to be read by or with children. My concern is to ask how grandparents are portrayed in these books and how their interactions with children are depicted. On the whole, one would expect that literature of this type would depict grandparents in a favorable light. Nevertheless, we can still inquire about the different roles grandparents play in helping children cope with death and loss, and about the specific things that they are described as doing that are thought to be helpful. Grandparents have special opportunities in such interactions. As elders, they can represent the accumulation of experience and wisdom that would have been part of their customary roles in traditional societies. Most often, and especially so in this particular body of literature, they are not responsible for the day-to-day care of their grandchildren. As such, they have a unique freedom to intervene with and relate to grandchildren in ways that might not be typical or acceptable on the part of parents and most other adults in our society. In addition, in our society, the deaths of grandparents are among the most common death-related experiences that children might encounter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The assignment sounded simple enough: "Describe, analyze, and evaluate literature available for adults to help them in their efforts to assist bereaved children." Plodding into it, however, proved daunting. A Google search yielded 143,000 matches for "bereaved children" and 283,000 for "grieving children." Reviews of death-related catalogs and books available through Amazon.com unveiled a dizzying array of options. Clearly, boundaries would need to be set. Having been instructed to include only written publications and not videos, DVDs, or other media, this is the question I opted to address: What are the "Top 20" publications for a professional wanting to start a library of written resources directed at adults who help grieving children? In my search, I enlisted the input of over 200 professionals and para-professionals in the field, in person (at the 7th Annual Children's Grief Symposium in San Antonio, Texas; among my colleagues at The Dougy Center, with a collective 40 years of work with bereaved children), and by e-mail (to selected members of the Association for Death Education and Counseling, and a gathering of Women in Thanatology). I filtered through their recommendations, and landed on the 20 listed here. I also decided to focus on two reading populations: professionals and parents. In so doing, I asked myself the following questions: What kinds of publications ought a person in a professional helping role, whether a psychologist, aftercare provider, counselor, therapist, or educator, be minimally familiar with to better assist bereaved children? And, what resources might those professionals recommend to individuals who are parenting children grieving a loss through death? You will note that I have excluded publications solely geared to classroom teachers or the school environment, not because they aren't important or voluminous, but because that topic is a full article in itself, and outside the scope of my assignment. Another qualifier: with the exceptions of co-editors, I chose to limit an author to one selection in order to broaden the range of topics and contributors. Caveat emptor! [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The process of development and testing of the Lang and Goulet Hardiness Scale (LGHS), a self-report instrument designed to measure hardiness in bereaved parents following the death of their fetus/infant, is presented. Hardiness is a personal resource, composed of 3 interdependent components that are characterized by a sense of personal control over the outcome of life events and hardships such as the death of a fetus/infant, an active orientation toward meeting the challenges brought on by the loss, and a belief in the ability to make sense of one's own existence following such a tragedy. The concept of hardiness has been studied by various disciplines and in a multitude of settings to understand its ability to lessen potentially negative effects of life stress. However, it has never been studied within the context of parental bereavement. The LGHS was developed systematically, originating from a concept analysis. A panel of 15 experts was used to establish content validity. A pretest was conducted on 73 bereaved individuals to assess convergent and discriminant validity of the LGHS. Subsequently, a validation study on 220 bereaved parents who had experienced the death of their fetus/infant 2 months previously was conducted including a retest 6 months after the loss with 192 of the remaining participants. Analyses reveal that the LGHS is a valid and reliable instrument for measuring hardiness and that it is sensitive enough to detect changes in the construct over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 1981–1982 recession induced substantial variation across sites in air pollution reductions. This is used to estimate the impact of total suspended particulates (TSPs) on infant mortality. We find that a 1-percent reduction in TSPs results in a 0.35 percent decline in the infant mortality rate at the county level, implying that 2500 fewer infants died from 1980–1982 than would have in the absence of the TSPs reductions. Most of these effects are driven by fewer deaths occurring within one month of birth, suggesting that fetal exposure is a potential pathophysiologic mechanism. The analysis also reveals nonlinear effects of TSPs pollution and greater sensitivity of black infant mortality at the county level. Importantly, the estimates are stable across a variety of specifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Abuse and neglect have been shown to influence the mental and physical health of children; however, few studies have examined whether childhood victimization leads to an increased risk of early death.Purpose: This paper compares mortality data and examines cause of death for a sample of 908 abused and/or neglected individuals and 667 matched controls who were followed up into young adulthood.Methods: Using data from a prospective cohort design study, a large group of children with substantiated cases of abuse (physical and sexual) and/or neglect approximately 25 years ago were matched with a control group of children and both groups were followed up into adulthood. The National Death Index was searched twice and official death certificates were collected for most individuals who had died.Results: Surprisingly, there were no significant differences in rates of mortality for the two groups (abuse and neglect=3.5%, controls=3.0%). Furthermore, victims of child abuse and neglect were not more likely to experience a violent death.Conclusions: Our results do not provide support for a heightened rate of early death in abused and neglected children followed up into young adulthood. Limitations of the study are discussed as well as potential reasons for these unexpected findings. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article focuses on a study which examines the impact of childhood neglect and abuse on mortality in early adulthood. The study attempts to follow abused and neglected children into young adulthood using a prospective matched control group design. The authors of the study describe previous studies showing that abused and neglected children are at increased risk of violence, homelessness, chronic disease, unhealthy lifestyles, and other medical problems in early adulthood, all of which should put such children at increased risk of early death.

Working with children at the end of life is full of witnessing the absolute strength of the human spirit and the irrepressible joy of children. It is also one of the most profoundly painful clinical experiences a social worker is likely to confront. It is full of hope and despair, belief and fear, compassion and sadness. Pediatric palliative care is vital work that requires a distinct set of clinical skills. This paper will address both the necessary skills and the intense emotions associated with this work. It will also focus on the developmental and spiritual issues of children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Different types of expressive therapies permit bereaved children to express and process their feelings through a variety of child-friendly non-verbal methods such as art, creative writing, and music. The selection of a particular method depends on considerations related to the particular needs of each child, the circumstances of the death, and the family/community narrative about it. This article demonstrates how expressive therapies may be used in individual, family, or group sessions which, through play and other modes of expression, provide children with an opportunity to communicate feelings about and reactions to their bereavement experiences in symbolic form. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we examined the effectiveness of the coping resources and coping strategies by following 173 bereaved parents prospectively for five years after their children's deaths by accident, suicide, homicide, or undetermined violence. Using hierarchical multiple regression procedures, we examined how three predictors influenced parents' mental distress and PTSD: self-esteem, active/affective coping, and repressive coping. The results showed that at one and five years postdeath, self-esteem was a significant predictor of mental distress and PTSD. After controlling for self-esteem, the use of active/affective coping strategies predicted less mental distress for fathers but not for mothers. Active/affective coping strategies were not significant predictors of lowered PTSD symptoms for either mothers or fathers. Rather, repressive coping strategies were significant predictors of higher PTSD symptoms for both mothers and fathers at both one and five years postdeath. The findings suggest the need for interventions that target both gender and outcomes as unique aspects of the violent death bereavement transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines near-death experiences (NDE) in children based on a study of 277 children. Revelation of pre-birth memories of children; Categorization of light that appears to exist beyond conscious awareness; Differences in children and adult NDE; Suggestions for parents and therapists to understand perceptions of children.

Interviews researchers Irwin Sandler and Tim Ayers about the Family Bereavement Program, an intervention for the parentally bereaved children and the surviving parent. Factors that led to the development of the program; Key goals of the intervention for parents and for children; Ways in which the program differs from traditional bereavement support.

The purpose of this national survey was to explore the general perceptions of Greek teachers (n = 1792) about bereaved children, and investigate the experiences of those who had a student who grieved over the death of a relative (n = 590, 33%) and those who had a class which grieved over the death of a classmate (n = 215, 12%). Findings suggest that most educators are perceptive of children's grief responses and changes in academic performance and behaviour. They consider their role significant in supporting bereaved students, but feel inadequately prepared and request specialized knowledge and skills. Educators who had a student who grieved over the death of a relative expressed considerable difficulty in openly discussing the loss with their student, yet described changes in their own and in the peers' attitudes towards the bereaved student. While the death of a family member was likely to be perceived as a private affair, the death of a student was experienced as a community loss that disrupted school life, and educators were more likely to discuss and engage in collective activities that commemorated the death of the child. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article supplements an earlier account of experiences involved in teaching what is believed to be the first full-term, credit-bearing, college-level course on Children and Death (C. A. Corr, 1992). C. A. Corr's article covered a period of some 13 years and reported on three phases in the development and early history of the course. The present article describes a fourth phase during which the Children and Death course was offered in a format of 6 all-day Saturday sessions. A plan for the course as it was offered in this last format is presented, outlining session titles, goals, topics, methods, and sample resources from relevant literature. In addition, this article suggests some lessons concerning administration, structure, and content that have emerged from this educational experience. Comments from two other faculty members who have taught a Children and Death course help to point out why this course is of interest and value to instructors and other participants alike. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Just like adults, children of all ages need time and understanding in order to process the concept of death and dying. This process is much different for children than it is for adults. There are 4 components relative to children's understanding of death: (a) the irreversibility factor, (b) finality, (c) inevitability, and (d) causality. These 4 components relate directly to the developmental level of the child at the time the death occurs. Knowing how children's concept of death is constructed provides parents and caregivers important information and helps them respond more sensitively to what children might feel and experience. This article provides an overview of how children understand death, concrete strategies for talking to children about death, and suggestions for teachers about how to help children through grief and mourning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the child welfare Marisol A. v. Giuliani case. On November 22, 1995, six-year old Elisa Izquierdo died from injuries she sustained when her mother threw her against a cement wall. For months, Elisa was beaten, sodomized and sexually abused by her mother and stepfather. Her story was all the more tragic because the child welfare agency responsible for her care and protection continually rebuffed reports of the abuse. Elisa's death sparked widespread public outrage and demands for reform of the child welfare system in New York City. In the early years of his administration, New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani slashed the budgets of agencies providing services to children, but after Elisa's death, Giuliani recognized the need for dramatic reform of the Child Welfare Administration. The New York City child welfare system has had four different names since the 1960's. The case promised to be a long and highly-publicized battle. The City Settlement Agreement acknowledged that Mayor Giuliani had already started to respond to the problems of child welfare in the city by creating ACS, appointing Commissioner Scoppetta, and issuing the Reform Plan.

El artículo enfoca en las escuelas hospitalarias para los niños en fase terminal. Se examina el rol de los pedagogos, como profesionales de la educación y como parte de un equipo multiprofesional en el apoyo para el paciente pediátrico y su familia. Se discute el afrontamiento del impacto derivado de una enfermedad con pronóstico fatal. Se presentan algunas pautas de actuación y reflexiones en torno al tema.

Compared to thirty years of death education in the United States, death education in Japan became widely acknowledged among educators in elementary schools at the beginning of the 1990s. In Japanese curriculums, life-related issues such as the beginning of life, growth, and the importance of life were more likely to be discussed, although they held the avowed purpose of preparing elementary-age children for loss experiences. Death education supported the development of healthy attitudes and understandings about life and death issues in order for the young to lead happy lives and avoid self-destructive behaviors. Although death education revealed a strong positive potential in contributing to children's lives, death still remained a difficult topic for educators to discuss with children. Many educators in Japan were not properly prepared to address death in their classrooms. Further research on death education should investigate support for children relating to the type of crises they might encounter in society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a known association between social deprivation and risk of death from unintentional injury in childhood. In the UK context, these inequalities do not appear to be decreasing. This paper reports on the findings of a systematic review of the world literature between 1975 and 2000 on the prevention of childhood injuries, with particular reference to social deprivation. Literature was identified via electronic data- bases, key journals and informants. All papers were. read independently by at least two reviewers and information was extracted using a standardized form. Results indicate that of 155 studies identified in the systematic review, 32 addressed the issue of social deprivation. The way social deprivation was defined in different studies varied considerably. The literature was not evenly spread across different injury types and did not reflect the burden of injury. There is a paucity of evidence relating to the prevention of child pedestrian injury. Very few studies examined the impact of interventions in different social groups. Without such evidence, it remains difficult for those involved in health promotion to know how to design and target interventions to address inequalities in child injury rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the interpretations of death and the child in the novel "Su único hijo." Views of the story as chimera of the Clarinian imagination; Depiction of the child as a child of the imagination; Imagination of the chain of fathers and sons.

The purpose of this study was to investigate qualitative and quantitative differences in Chinese children's concepts of death, as reflected in their drawings, and to analyze this conceptual development as it related to background variables (such as gender, age, religious belief, and heath status). Participants were 239 children in 6 grade groups recruited from primary and junior high school. The children were asked to draw their impression of the word "death" and to give a verbal commentary of what they had drawn. The drawings were analyzed according to a phenomenographic method and assigned to one of 3 superordinate and 12 subordinate qualitative categories, adapted from M. E. Tamm and A. Granqvist (1995). Metaphysical and biological death concepts dominated, while psychological death concepts were depicted least. Consistent with previous studies of the development of concepts of death in children, biological death concepts were most common for the younger age groups, and metaphysical death concepts were found predominately in the older age groups. Chi-square analysis revealed no significant differences among death concept categories as a function of the participants' gender, health status, religious belief, funeral attendance, or prior death of relatives or pets. The results are interpreted as providing a unique window on death concepts among Chinese children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children and parents anticipating the death of a loved family member or friend experience anticipatory grief. Parents may become so focused on their own grief and the care of the dying person that they cannot recognize the needs of children experiencing the same grief. These guidelines explain children's understanding of death and provide developmentally appropriate terminology and activities to assist a child through anticipatory grief, the dying process and the death of a loved person. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article focuses on the role of the early childhood educator in dealing with children's perception of death. Four subconcepts of death, which are finality, inevitability, cessation and causality are related to the thinking of a child in the preoperational stage. Three basic responsibilities regarding death education rest with the early childhood educator, these are to help children feel safe while acknowledging the reality of death, to promote an accepting classroom atmosphere where children's feelings are supported and to provide developmentally appropriate learning opportunities that allow children to discuss death. Each of these functions plays an important role in developing young children's attitudes and understandings about death.

This short paper considers a response to requests from schools to help them when working with children who have been bereaved. It sets out a consideration of a more systematic way of providing teachers with a context in which they might address questions about death and how they might do so in a way that considers death as an event in which we are all involved and not one needing specialist intervention. The method outlined suggests that death can be incorporated across the British school curriculum into every subject already being taught and does not need to be either a specialist area, part of religious education or to be left to personal, social and health education. A small survey with children is included to illustrate children's own attitudes towards teaching death in schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT. Objective. Neonates and infants have the highest death rate in the pediatric population, yet there is a paucity of data about their end-of-life care and whether a palliative care service can have an impact on that care. The objective of this study was to describe end-of-life care for infants, including analysis of palliative care consultations conducted in this population. We hypothesized that the palliative care consultations performed had an impact on the infants' end-of-life care. Design. A retrospective chart review using the "End of Life Chart Review" from the Center to Improve Care for the Dying was conducted. The participants were the patients at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin who died at < 1 year of age during the 4-year period between January 1, 1994, and December 31, 1997. The patients' place of death, medical interventions performed, and emotionally supportive services provided to families were analyzed. Results. Among the 196 deaths during the study period, 25 (13%) of these infants and families had palliative care consultations. The rate of consultations increased from 5% of the infant deaths in 1994 to 38% of the infant deaths in 1997. Infants of families that received consultations had fewer days in intensive care units, blood draws, central lines, feeding tubes, vasopressor and paralytic drug use, mechanical ventilation, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and x-rays, and the families had more frequent referrals for chaplains and social services than families that did not have palliative care consultations. Conclusions. This study describes the end-of-life care that infants and their families received. Fewer medical procedures were performed, and more supportive services were provided to infants and families that had a palliative care consultation. This suggests that palliative care consultation may enhance end-of-life care for newborns. Pediatrics 2001;108:653-660; palliative care, end-of-life care, death and dying, terminal ill... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the causes of childhood mortality in Ghana. Qualitative study of both traditional and modern maternal and child health care systems in the country; Local beliefs about 'spirit children' or Chichuru; Modification of verbal autopsy method for the identification of non-biomedical causes of death.

Parents in 18 of 21 couples who parented other children following a child's death said that they became more protective parents after the death. In intensive interviews, the parents said that the greater protectiveness was rooted in a greater awareness of child vulnerability and of their own vulnerability to child loss. The protection took many forms, including greater vigilance, more rapid response to any sign of trouble, concealing parent grief, and subordinating personal needs in order to benefit the child. Protection or overprotection seemed typically to occur in a system in which children collaborated in their own overprotection and parents were more child focused and less spouse focused. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Child welfare workers are in a unique position to help children and youth in out-of-home care who have experienced the death of a significant person. This article discusses the response of children to death from a developmental perspective and offers suggestions on how child welfare workers can use an ecological perspective to help youngsters cope with their grief. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]