Att förlora en förälder i cancer-En kvalitativ studie över ungdomars behov av professionellt stöd

The aim of this study was to review six professionals supporters work to support adolescents in grief, and if this support is the kind of support adolescents actually need. These professional supporters are two hospital social workers, two hospice social workers and two support group leaders. The questions included in the work are; How does the professional support look like for adolescents aged 12-18, who has lost a parent in cancer? Are the adolescents getting the support they need from these professionals? The study is based on qualitative interviews based on interview guides, which where then analyzed thematically and linked to previous research and grief theory. The result indicate that adolescents may need different forms of support when their parent is dying or has died. These types of social support can be; to get information about the illness, information about what sorrow is, and at the same time, to be involved in the processes of the parents illness. Furthermore, that there is an open communication with the parent in the family about the incident. This is so that the adolescents should feel that it can open up the thoughts and feelings and feel supported by the parents, and feeling involved in what happens. Many adolescents have a difficulty in talking about emotions and thoughts in grief, and then it is important that they can be talking about them so that they can move on in the sadness processing. This can also adolescents feel that it needs thru the other social network such as relatives and friends. These various forms of social support was offered to the adolescents by the professionals. However, the result indicate that they are not so receptive in getting this support. It may depend on how much time the adolescents have to prepare themselves that the parent will die. There was generally less time for this in the hospital, but more on hospice. At most, they where receptive in support groups, where they could share their experience among like-minded adolescents. Some adolescents where also less receptive for support because of the difficulty to express their emotion and thoughts or because that they where not ready yet to grief, when the support was offered to them by professionals