"You are not alone": Connecting through a bereaved parent mentor program for parents whose child died of cancer.

Background: Bereavement after the death of a child is devastating and associated with worse physical and psychosocial well-being in parents. Evidence suggests that parents desire and benefit from support provided by other bereaved parents. To foster this peer support, an institutional peer-to-peer mentorship program for bereaved parents was established, through which trained bereaved parent mentors offer support for newly bereaved parents.

Leveraging Grief: Involving Bereaved Parents in Pediatric Palliative Oncology Program Planning and Development.

As pediatric palliative care (PPC) became a recognized medical specialty, our developing clinical PPC team longitudinally partnered with bereaved parents to understand the care that their children received as they transitioned towards end of life. Families developed Eight Priorities, shared within, to improve care for children with a poor chance of survival based on their experience of losing a child to cancer. In this paper, we delineate the top eight PPC needs from a parent perspective to offer multi-layered, individually tailored resources for patients and families.

Development of a Structured Peer Mentoring Program for Support of Parents and Caregivers of Children with Cancer.

Background: Parents of children newly diagnosed with cancer have increased anxiety, depression, and numerous questions. Many of these concerns can only be answered by parents who have undergone a similar experience.

Local Problem: Our institution lacked a formal parent-to-parent mentoring program for parents of children newly diagnosed with cancer.

Development of a respite care program for caregivers of pediatric oncology patients and their siblings.

Children with chronic health care needs, including those with cancer, require complex care under direct caregiver supervision. This intensive care management may result in increased stress and psychological distress for the caregiver and family. Respite care services are needed in providing alleviation of caregiver stress among families of children with complex health care needs.