Investigation of grief and post traumatic development related to patient loss in pediatric intensive care nurses

Objective: In this study, it was aimed to examine the grief and post-traumatic development and related factors associated with the loss of patients experienced by Pediatric Intensive Care Nurses. Materials and Methods: This analytical/cross-sectional study was conducted with 200 nurses working in the pediatric intensive care unit between 30 March-30 June 2021. Data were collected with a Descriptive Information Form, Texas Revised Inventory of Grief (TRIG), Post Traumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI), and an open-ended question questioning nurses' recommendations for coping with loss. Descriptive statistics, student t-test, one-way analysis of variance and post hoc tests were used in the analysis of the data. Cohen(d) and Eta squared(η2) coefficients were used to calculate the effect size of the variables. Results: In the study, nurses' TRIG scores were 49,425±10,868, and PTGI scores were 61,450±24.934. She found a positive weak connection between the age levels of the nurses and the post-traumatic development levels. It was found that while being educated about the terminal period and bereavement, feeling comfortable while caring for the dying child and providing emotional support to the family, and the presence of support professionals decreased the levels of grief, the length of the working period, the high number of children lost, and the desire to work in the unit increased the levels of grief. While training in terminal terms and age, caring for the dying child and providing emotional support to the family, comfortable and supportive professionals' presence reduced age levels, the length of work, the number of children lost, and the wanting to work in the unit increased their age levels. Being a woman, wanting to work in the unit, giving enough time after loss, increased post-traumatic development, higher levels of education, and more children lost were associated with lower post-traumatic development. The nurses demanded the most post-loss time (n=35) and professional support (n=22). Conclusion: Nurses live in near-medium age associated with patient loss. The age levels of nurses are decreasing, while post-traumatic development is increasing. Health care administrators and future researchers can benefit from these findings when planning interventions that help nurses cope with their grief and support their post-traumatic growth. Key Words: Grief, Nurse, Pediatric İntensive Care Unit, Posttraumatic Growth,