Verlieservaringen bij kinderen: een leidraad voor hulpverleners

Loss experience in children: a guideline for primary care Everyone gets confronted with severe loss experiences during life, such as bereavement of a significant other, loss of a loved one after a divorce or loss of one’s own capabilities due to illness. Health care providers need to be equipped with substantial knowledge about children’s experiences of grief and distress in order to support family members properly. Moreover, this can influence the next generation’s capabilities to cope with stressful life events. The current article describes the characteristics of loss experiences in children up to 11 years. Developmental phases, as well as the need to explain to children the 4 fundamental characteristics of death will be discussed (i.e. finality, irreversibility, universality and causality). While grief and distress in children can generally be managed by the immediate surrounding of the child, sometimes professional support is necessary, which is also discussed in this article. Finally, the authors present 4 key principles and concrete recommendations on how adults can respond to children who lost someone so that they can regain pleasure in life.