Effective parental coping following the death of a child from cancer.

A semistructured interview schedule was administered to 23 sets of parents whose child had died of cancer in order to learn how well the parents had adjusted to life without their child and to learn if a family's level of adjustment after a child dies could be related to variables occurring during the life of the child. Those parents who were best adjusted after the death of their child were those (a) who had a consistent philosophy of life during the course of the illness which helped the family accept the diagnosis and cope with its consequences, (b) who had a viable and ongoing support person to whom they could turn for help during the course of the illness, and (c) who gave their child the information and emotional support the child needed during the course of the illness at a level consistent with their child's questions, age, and level of development.