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Millions of children are affected annually by parental death from cancer, which can have significant and lasting consequences. This is an exploratory retrospective qualitative study detailing the experiences of six women who lost a parent to cancer when young. The Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis yielded four themes (i) The impact of bereavement in my life (ii) Age, time and coping with my grief (iii) Understanding the context of my grief and (iv) The everlasting bond. Parental death was experienced as trauma, leaving a profound impact in many areas of their lives, their mental health, education, identity, and life choices. Participants identified factors which shaped their experiences including age, coping styles, family support, family communication, school and support services. Participants described having an enduring bond with their deceased parent but also a lasting relationship with grief, which can change over time but comes back at crucial moments of their life.
Rodriguez et al. (Wed,) studied this question.