Bereaved Parent Conversations on Hope

Primary Objectives

Aim 1: To assess feasibility and acceptability of virtual conversations about hope between bereaved parent advisors and learners at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

Aim 2: To evaluate impact of discussions about hope on both bereaved parent advisors and learners.

Secondary Objectives

Aim 1: To explore impact of discussion with bereaved parent advisors and subsequent reflection on participant professional identity formation.

This intervention is designed to facilitate direct conversations between learners and bereaved parent advisors about how hope evolves through the child's cancer journey. Providing a structured, virtual opportunity to discuss hope will allow learners to hear about the lived experiences of bereaved parents as they navigated pediatric cancer treatment, end of life, and bereavement. The intervention incorporates a discussion guide to support the conversation and a post-session reflection exercise. Assessments will include quantitative surveys administered pre-intervention and immediately post-intervention, as well as qualitative written reflections from participants and bereaved parents.

Both participant groups will receive an information sheet detailing the study's purpose, procedures, potential risks, and benefits. An affirmative response on the pre-intervention survey to the item, "I would like to participate in a virtual educational discussion about hope," will be considered as implied consent to participate in the educational intervention portion of the study for both participants and facilitators. Investigators plan to enroll a total of 50 learners and 25 bereaved parent advisors.

For each learner who agrees to participate, two bereaved parent advisors will be identified and scheduled to meet virtually with the learner for approximately 1 hour using a virtual platform. Prior to the meeting, bereaved parent advisors will be instructed to select 3 photos that represent how hope evolved during their child's illness journey. Both the learners and bereaved parent advisors will be provided with the discussion guide for review prior to the session. Each virtual meeting will be recorded for implementation fidelity and for reference should any learner or parent concerns arise retrospectively from the conversation.

Immediately following each virtual meeting, both the learners and bereaved parent advisors will be asked to engage in individual short (15 minute) written reflections. Following this, participants will complete additional post-intervention survey questions with data collection managed through an online software platform. A second meeting with the same parents may be held at the learners request and the parents willingness. The participants who agree to and participate in a second meeting will receive open-ended questions and be prompted to complete a timed written reflection after the second meeting.

On an approximately quarterly basis, learners who have previously completed the intervention will be invited to participate in a facilitated group debrief and reflection session. Separately, bereaved parent advisors who have participated in at least one virtual meeting in the preceding quarter will be invited to a discussion and feedback session to share about their experiences with the program. For parents who do not prefer a group meeting, an individual session will be offered. All debriefing sessions will be recorded.