Journal of pediatric oncology nursing : official journal of the Association of Pediatric Oncology Nurses
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Telling stories about deceased patients to supportive peers is frequently mentioned as an activity used for meaning-making in anecdotal reports of clinical practice and the literature addressing nurses' experiences caring for dying children. This study examines peer-supported storytelling for grieving pediatric oncology nurses using a mixed methods single-group descriptive repeated measures design. Participants were 6 registered nurses from a tertiary care pediatric hospital inpatient oncology unit who self-identified as experiencing grief. ⋯ Sessions were audio-recorded. Participants reported (1) receiving and providing support during sessions; (2) that sessions had an impact on their grief; (3) that sessions had an impact on their meaning-making, and the explicit session focus on making sense of and identifying benefit in their experiences was particularly helpful. There was a significant positive correlation between participant report of number of special patient deaths during career and impact of sessions on grief.