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DOI: 10.1055/s-0041-1727179
The Association between Therapeutic Alliance and Parental Health Outcomes following a Child's Death in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit
Authors
Funding This study was supported in part, by the following cooperative agreements from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development: UG1HD083170, UG1HD049981, UG1HD63108, UG1HD083166, UG1HD083171, UG1HD049983, U01HD049934, UG1HD050096.
Abstract
Therapeutic alliance reflects the strength and quality of the physician–patient/family relationship. We investigated the association between therapeutic alliance and bereaved parents' mental health and perceived overall health following their child's death in a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). Bereaved parents were surveyed 6 months after their child's death in a PICU affiliated with the Collaborative Pediatric Critical Care Research Network. Parents were evaluated for complicated grief, depression, and post-traumatic stress using the Inventory of Complicated Grief (ICG), the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-8), and the Short Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Rating Interview (SPRINT), respectively. Overall health was evaluated using a single item. Therapeutic alliance between parents and their deceased child's PICU physicians was assessed using the Human Connection scale (HCS). Two hundred and thirty-five parents of 158 deceased children completed surveys. Mean ICG score was 34.4 ± 14.9 with 142 (60.4%) parents screening positive for complicated grief. Mean PHQ-8 score was 9.1 ± 6.2 with 102 (43.4%) screening positive for at least moderate depression. Mean SPRINT score was 14.6 ± 8.2 with 122 (51.9%) screening positive for post-traumatic stress disorder. Overall health was perceived as fair for 47 (20.0%) parents and poor for 10 (4.3%). Using multivariable modeling, higher HCS score (greater therapeutic alliance) was significantly associated with lower (better) ICG score (−0.23, 95% CI −0.42, −0.04, p = 0.018). HCS score was not significantly associated with PHQ-8, SPRINT, or overall health scores. We conclude that bereaved parents experience a high level of adverse mental health symptoms including complicated grief, depression, and post-traumatic stress symptoms. Greater therapeutic alliance with PICU physicians may lessen symptoms of complicated grief during bereavement.
Keywords
therapeutic alliance - bereavement - parent - grief - depression - post-traumatic stress disorder - pediatric intensive care unitPublication History
Received: 14 December 2020
Accepted: 20 February 2021
Article published online:
17 May 2021
© 2021. Thieme. All rights reserved.
Georg Thieme Verlag KG
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