The dying child's awareness of death: A review

A review of the professional opinions in the literature reveals both the honest concern of the authors for the parents, nurses, and physicians of the dying child and the lack of objective data on what the child actually knows about his illness or what his psychological reactions are to it. The resul...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychological bulletin 1974-04, Vol.81 (4), p.256-260
Main Author: Spinetta, John J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Age Factors
Anxiety
Attitude to Death
Child
Child, Hospitalized
Child, Preschool
Chronic Disease
Cognition
Death
Death and Dying
Death Attitudes
Human
Humans
Leukemia - mortality
Literature Review
Personality Inventory
Psychology, Child
Research Design
United States
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Summary:A review of the professional opinions in the literature reveals both the honest concern of the authors for the parents, nurses, and physicians of the dying child and the lack of objective data on what the child actually knows about his illness or what his psychological reactions are to it. The result has been the accumulation of a set of contradictory attitudes often based on nothing more than the authors' personal reactions and unsubstantiated observations. 2 controlled studies directly measuring the child's concerns pointed to a very real awareness by a child as young as 6 yrs of the seriousness of his illness. Implications for designing future research in this area are discussed.
ISSN:0033-2909
1939-1455
DOI:10.1037/h0036229