Preferences for end-of-life care for children with cancer

Abstract

• Little is known about the decision-making preferences surrounding end-of-life care for children.• Parents and health care workers hold different opinions regarding when, if ever, treatment should end and supportive care should begin.• Incongruity between preferences could be attributed to the importance of hope in parental decision-making.

Hope, Uncertainty, and Coping among Parents of Children with Cancer

“…Parents of children receiving palliative care for a brain tumor identified maintaining hope as a key coping mechanism. Knapp and Komatz (2011), in evaluating preferences for end of life care, found parents were willing to allow their child to experience a poor quality of life and shortened survival with chemotherapy it if meant being able to hold on to hope. This was considered an important factor in decision-making which has been considered a function of coping (Stewart et al, 2012).…”