Losing a child due to a life-limiting diagnosis-parental well-being and quality of life: nationwide survey

ObjectiveLosing a child is burdensome with potential long-term impact on the parents’ well-being and quality of life. The aim was to investigate parental well-being and quality of life 3–5 years after losing a child due to life-limiting diagnoses and to identify associated factors in order to target future interventions.MethodsAll parents, who lost a child (ResultsIn all, 152 (38%) children were represented by 136 mothers and 57 fathers. Totally, 17.6% of the mothers and 14.0% of the fathers had ≥2 symptoms (assessed by the symptom index). Parents with lower education had 2.11 (95% CI: 1.01 to 4.40) times higher odds of having more symptoms than parents with higher education. Unmarried parents had 2.14 (95% CI: 1.03 to 4.42) times higher odds of having more symptoms than married parents. Ten per cent of the parents reported poor overall quality of life.ConclusionAccording to the VDS, 1 out of 10 parents experienced poor overall quality of life 3–5 years after the loss. Every sixth had two or more symptoms assessed by the symptom index. Associated factors for poor quality of life suggest attention to particularly unmarried parents and parents with lower education.