Parents of children who die traumatically or unexpectedly from things like suicide or an overdose suffer from mental and physical health problems and can experience massive disruptions in their family life. For about half of these parents, the first, and sometimes only, interactions they have with the healthcare system when their child dies are with a medical examiner or coroner (hereafter 'ME'). But MEs have little to no training in helping grieving families, and there are no standards guiding medical examiners or coroners on how or even if they should help grieving families. This gap leaves parents to find the help they need on their own. This research will test two different strategies for addressing this gap in the healthcare system.
Parents or caregivers of ME cases involving a person < 25 years old from one of the following offices: Cook County Medical Examiners, Lake County Coroners, DuPage County Coroner, Will County Coroner, McHenry County Coroner, Kane County Coroner, Peoria County Coroner
Parents or caregivers who provide permission to the ME to be referred to Missing Pieces
Parent or caregivers who are referred to Missing Pieces by a ME
Parents or caregivers able to read and communicate in English or Spanish
Parents or caregivers unable to read or communicate in English or Spanish
Parents or caregivers under the age of 18 years old
Parallel
CommunityRx-Bereavement
Other interventionThe medical examiner or coroner will refer parents to an organization called Missing Pieces. Missing Pieces does not deliver healthcare services to grieving families; rather, Missing Pieces helps families find grief services in their community. For CRx-B, a Grief Navigator from Missing Pieces will text and/or call the parent after receiving the referral; share information about grief and support resources; learn what resources the parent needs for themselves and their family; send the parent a personalized list of grief and social support community resources called a HealtheRx via text, email, or mail; and plan future text message communications with bidirectional functionality and, if requested, subsequent calls or texts from the Grief Navigator to occur at least 3, 6, and 12 months after the child's death.
General Bereavement Support Information
Other interventionThe medical examiner or coroner will refer parents to an organization called Missing Pieces. Missing Pieces does not deliver healthcare services to grieving families; rather, Missing Pieces helps families find grief services in their community. For GBSI, Missing Pieces sends parents a unidirectional text message providing a link to a webpage with a general list of grief resources (e.g., support groups) and information about grief and bereavement within two weeks of the child's death and again 3, 6, and 12 months after the child's death.
Parent Self-efficacy for Finding Resources
Domain-specific item assessing self-efficacy related to support after a child's death, based on Bandura's Self-Efficacy Scale, "How confident are you in your ability to find resources to support you after your child's death?" Responses are on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from "not at all confident" to "completely confident."
Complicated Grief
Index of Complicated Grief, 19-item tool that uses a 5-point Likert scale ("never" to "always"). Responses are scored 0 to 4 and totaled (0 to 76) with higher scores indicating more symptoms of grief.
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Ann & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago
Lead sponsor
University of Chicago
Collaborator
Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute
Collaborator
Missing Pieces, a program of the HAP Foundation
Collaborator
