Children's hospice care

Abstract

This article seeks to define the principles that are at the heart of the concept of children's hospice care and to indicate the wide range of activities to which that concept is relevant. The discussion is organized around five main points: 1) an analysis of that which is distinctive of the hospice philosophy or hospice-like approaches to care; 2) a sketch of situations involving children to which approaches guided by such a philosophy are or might be relevant; 3) a description of the principal contexts within which these approaches might be implemented; 4) some suggestions concerning the application of ideal models to practical realities; and 5) some concluding remarks concerning issues for practice and research. References to relevant literature indicate the present status of work in this field.