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Our thoughts are organised around thematic statements that reflect the value of these sharing spaces for bereaved parents: sharing as an experience of sharing something, sharing as an experience of a communal connection, sharing as an experience of empathic reflection and sharing as an experience of shared responsibility. By articulating these aspects, we hope not to prove the value of sharing but instead to show the meaningfulness of it; thereby, contributing to the very sparse body of evidence on home-based care and support for bereaved families. Exploring the phenomenology of sharing the loss of a child discloses empathic communal shared spaces among bereaving parents that may be inherent to palliative care practices.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1136\/medhum-2025-013312","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,8]],"date-time":"2025-06-08T16:05:16Z","timestamp":1749398716000},"page":"87-94","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/crossmarkpolicy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Sharing in the community of having lost a child"],"prefix":"10.1136","volume":"52","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4163-263X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Malene","family":"Beck","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Regional Health, University of Southern Denmark Faculty of Health Sciences, Odense, Denmark"},{"name":"Children and Adolescent Department, Zealand University Hospital Roskilde, Roskilde, Denmark"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Michael","family":"van Manen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"John Dossetor Health Ethics Center, University of Alberta College of Health Sciences, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada"},{"name":"Pediatric Department, University of Alberta Hospital, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"239","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,8]]},"reference":[{"key":"2026022003401368000_52.1.87.1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/bmjspcare-2019-001823"},{"key":"2026022003401368000_52.1.87.2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0269216318774995"},{"issue":"10","key":"2026022003401368000_52.1.87.3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0184750","article-title":"\u201cBereavement Support for Family Caregivers: The Gap between Guidelines and Practice in Palliative Care\u201d","volume":"12","author":"Aoun","year":"2017","journal-title":"PloS One"},{"issue":"1","key":"2026022003401368000_52.1.87.4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1186\/s12904-025-01796-1","article-title":"\u201cParents\u2019 Experiences of the Financial and Employment Impacts of Their Child Receiving End-of-Life Care: A National Qualitative Study\u201d","volume":"24","author":"Barrett","year":"2025","journal-title":"BMC Palliative Care"},{"key":"2026022003401368000_52.1.87.5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0030222817728204"},{"key":"2026022003401368000_52.1.87.6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Bekar P. , Erkul M. , and Efe E. . 2024. \u201cExperiences of Parents of Children with Cancer in the Diagnosis Process: A Qualitative Study\u201d. 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