Dear Colleagues,

We are looking for original articles focusing on child death, reducing child suffering, improving communication, helping parents and families cope with grief, and reducing the emotional burden on staff. 

Many of us have experienced the difference between immediate, unexpected child death and death after a gradual deterioration. Therefore, it may be essential to analyze the differences in how parents and family members cope with bereavement, the barriers to communication between parent and child, and the impact on hospital staff.

The way in which an expected death is communicated to a child depends on the parents' attitudes and religious beliefs, the child's age, mental state, and previous experiences. Closely related to this is the preparation of parents (and possibly siblings or grandparents) for the dying process, helping them to cope with the anticipated bereavement. The staff's awareness of their experiences with loss, beliefs, age, and other factors will influence these differences.

On behalf of the Editorial Office, we invite contributions of research papers, review articles, and case reports for peer review and possible publication. While this Special Issue will highlight several areas of particular interest, as mentioned above, we welcome articles on any relevant topic.

Dr. Gábor Ottóffy
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Children is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• child death
• unexpected death
• communication
• burn out
• pediatric palliative care
• grief
• child hospice
• pathological bereavement