Anticipatory grief and psychological adjustment to grieving in middle-aged children.

This study examines the effect of anticipatory grief on personal adjustment in middle-aged adult children following the death of their last surviving elderly parent. Data were analyzed from a study of adult children's perspectives of an elderly parent's death conducted by the Philadelphia Geriatric Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The results of this study indicate that adult children who experienced anticipatory grief were likely to report feeling better adjusted to the death of their elderly parent, yet the composite measure used to assess degree of personal adjustment indicates a negative relationship between the anticipation of death and personal adjustment following the actual loss.

Facial palsy, an unusual presenting feature of childhood leukemia.

Facial paralysis is not a well-recognized presenting feature of leukemia in children. We present two infants and one older child in whom the initial manifestation of their leukemia was lower motor neuron facial paresis. Initial diagnosis in all the patients was Bell's palsy.

"Fret no more my child ... for I'm all over heaven all day": religious beliefs in the bereavement of African American, middle-aged daughters coping with the death of an elderly mother.

This article examines the ways in which religious beliefs of 30 African American, middle-aged daughters help them cope with the death of their elderly mothers. This qualitative, exploratory study found that daughters use their beliefs to move through states of grief that allow them to prepare, relinquish control, accept death, and maintain a connection to their mothers beyond death. Important themes identified in this study include the belief in an after life and the reunification of family members there.