Paper Example on Sibling Death in ICU: Problem Stated & Research Built

Does the Article State the Problem Clearly?

The article on Parents' report of the child's response to sibling's death in a neonatal or paediatric intensive care unit has clearly stated the problem statement that has been used to build the research. The article indicates that approximately two million children tend to experience their sibling's death every year (Youngblut & Brooten, 2013). These deaths tend to result to the loss of a confidant, a playmate, and even the loss of a parent who might have been left with little energy following the child's death. Approximately half of the children who usually lose their siblings either in intensive or neonatal care tend to have behaviour problems, while approximately 25% of the children tend to require various clinical interventions; however, it is believed that very few receive the needed help (Avelin et al., 2011).

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This nursing research article on the children response to sibling's death has particularly focused on the children of siblings that live with cancer and those who live on a daily basis with the sibling's cancer treatment. In both the paediatric intensive care unit and the neonatal intensive care units, the children may not have to see or touch their siblings before death. However, they may have seen their siblings experiencing bleeding, respiratory distress, and unresponsiveness before being transported to the paediatric care units. This, therefore, suggest that the children's response may differ depending on the situation they saw their sibling in (Lancaster, 2011). the research article tries to research the children's response approximately seven months after their sibling's death, either in the pediatric intensive care unit or the neonatal intensive care units in three ethnic groups.

How Did the Author Conduct the Research?

The author conducted the research using the longitudinal mixed-method, particularly examining the functioning and the health of the family members and parents after the death of their siblings either in the neonatal or paediatric intensive care units. The author first obtained approval from the institutional review boards and the recruitment site that include the Florida department of health and four hospitals. The parents whose children died either in the neonatal or paediatric intensive care units were identified using the death records obtained from the office of vital statistics and letters concerning the interview were sent to them. The interviewers were asked to screen for exclusion and excursion criteria and also schedule the interview in the affected family's homes. Nineteen English speaking and eight Spanish-speaking parents of the twenty-four deceased infants or children described the responses of their 44 surviving children. Among the 44 children, 10 were in preschool, 19 were in school-age, and 15 children were adolescents. The race of the parents involved in the research was approximately 48% black, 15% white, and 37% Hispanic. Ten siblings of the parents involved in the research died in neonatal units while 14 siblings died in paediatric intensive care units. The interviews in the parent's homes were audio-recorded, transcribed and analyzed. The research excluded the children in foster care before being hospitalized and the children involved in the suspected child abuse cases. Based on my analysis, the author's description of the method is clear since he has clearly stated all the information that the reader needs to know about the research.

What Were the Results of the Research Study?

After conducting the study, several results were identified. Some of these results include, first, the most common theme among the adolescent children was changes in behaviour, which was followed by maintaining the existing connection and not believing that the sibling would die. The children in the preschool seemed first not to understand what was going on, which was followed by maintaining a connection and still believing that the sibling was still alive and well. Secondly, based on race, the research found out that the white parents had very few comments about their siblings with approximately half talking about behaviour change and none about the sibling being in a better place. The African American parents mostly commented on their failure to understand the child's death, which was followed by behaviour changes, and commenting about the child being in a good place. Thirdly, the Hispanic parents only commented about the behaviour changes that were mainly followed by lack of understanding. Thirdly, the parents commented on the most frequent effects experienced by their children respectively, the most frequent was behaviour change, followed by not having a clear understanding of what was going, maintaining connectedness with the sibling, and finally not having enough time with the sibling.

Did the Charts and Graphs Help to Make the Results More Clear?

The charts and graphs used by the author in presenting the results were very effective in making the result clear. This is mainly because the charts have clearly outlined all the children responses to their sibling's death based on their age and the kind of response each of the child experienced. On the other hand, the charts has enabled the reader to understand the description of the research sample; for instance, the number of deaths recorded in both the neonatal and the pedantic intensive care units. This has enabled us to understand the results better and to make a good follow up on the parent's response.

Were the Statistics Used in the Research Understandable?

The research statistics presented by the author were clear and understandable. The author has presented the statistics in the results section, whereby he has used them to explain the results obtained from the parents. For instance, the author has indicated that approximately 38% of the children experienced behaviour changes, 23% still maintained connectedness with the child, and 14% indicated that they did not have enough time with the child while 9% believed that their sibling was in a good place (Erlandsson et al., 2010). These statistics have played a significant part in enabling the reader to clearly understand what exactly was the response to a certain age group of the child and the response that was highly reported by the children.

Could the Results and Conclusion Be Used in Practice?

Based on the accuracy of the result and the conclusion made by the author based on the research, it is clear that they can both be used or implemented in healthcare practice. The main reason why the results and the conclusion may be of help in the healthcare practice is because they may enable the healthcare workers to know the changes and experiences that the children and their parents are likely to encounter in case of any death both in the neonatal intensive care and the paediatric care. The conclusion has also given a clear way forward on the issue of sibling's death, which can be used by the healthcare providers to solve the different outcomes experienced by the parents and the children. Also, with this accurate result, it will be easy for the health providers to know exactly the age of the children they need to focus more on in case of their sibling's death.

References

Avelin, P., Erlandsson, K., Hildingsson, I., & Radestad, I. (2011). Swedish parents' experiences of parenthood and the need for support to siblings when a baby is stillborn. Birth, 38(2), 150-158. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1523-536X.2010.00457.x

Erlandsson, K., Avelin, P., Saflund, K., Wredling, R., & Radestad, I. (2010). Siblings' farewell to a stillborn sister or brother and parents' support to their older children: a questionnaire study from the parents' perspective. Journal of Child Health Care, 14(2), 151-160. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367493509355621

Lancaster, J. (2011). Developmental stages, grief, and a child's response to death. Pediatric Annals, 40(5), 277-281. https://doi.org/10.3928/00904481-20110412-09

Youngblut, J. M., & Brooten, D. (2013). Parents' report of child's response to sibling's death in a neonatal or pediatric intensive care unit. American Journal of Critical Care, 22(6), 474-481. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3881261/