Bereavement Groups for Parents Who Have Lost a Child: A Qualitative Study of Parental Experiences in a Danish Context.
Malene Beck, Malene Missel, Heidi Bergenholz and 1 others
PMID 41902323WHAT IT FOUND
Bereaved parents valued hospital-led groups where familiar palliative care staff facilitated sharing.
Trust came from staff knowing their history. Practical supports like childcare, evening meetings, and home-like venues reduced barriers. Parents described moving from isolation to belonging through shared stories and witnessing.
Key findings
01Parents valued that the bereavement groups were facilitated by familiar members of the specialized paediatric palliative care team, as this existing relationship fostered trust and safety.
02Practical arrangements such as providing childcare, holding meetings in the evenings, and using a home-like venue were essential to enabling participation for parents facing long travel distances and work commitments.
03The group experience helped parents shift from feeling isolated and overlooked by society to a sense of belonging, where sharing stories allowed them to make sense of their loss without needing to explain their grief to others.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study included only nine parents from six families in a specific Danish region, so findings may not transfer to other contexts. The groups were facilitated by staff the parents already knew, which may not be possible in all settings. Participants were volunteers who had already chosen to join the bereavement groups, so the experiences of those who found the groups unhelpful or who opted out were not captured. The study did not measure clinical outcomes such as reduced grief or improved mental health, only experiences of the group process.
Declared interests
The facilitation of the bereavement group was supported by TrygFonden, a Danish non-profit organization, which had no involvement in the research project. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret this as evidence that bereavement groups reduce grief symptoms or improve mental health outcomes. The study describes what parents found meaningful about the group process and design, not its clinical efficacy.