Parental challenges when children are diagnosed with life-limiting illnesses in a context of poverty

摘要

As the health of children diagnosed with life-limiting conditions deteriorates, families may begin to consider palliative care. In Romania, the appropriate legislative environment for hospice and palliative care was only created in 2003, and as a result, research remains scarce. Existing research focused on retrospective evaluations of palliative or hospice care from the perspective of professionals directly involved in the care process. Only one study explored the patients' or their families' perspectives on end-of-life care, by focusing on communicational barriers.Moreover, no study has been initiated on children's paediatric hospice or palliative care in Romania. As part of a larger study examining the experiences of parents with paediatric palliative care in a context of poverty - such as quality of paediatric palliative care, challenges, patterns of emotional coping, division of household activities, changes in meaningful social interactions, changes in the outlook of life and so on - the specific aim of this article was to explore parental challenges when children were diagnosed with life-limiting illnesses.