Alternative Forms of Community Support after Sudden Infant Death

Abstract

The range of community services for the support or counselling of parents of babies dying from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) or cot death was studied in the response to an enquiry to all area health authorities in England and Wales and area health boards in Scotland.

Replies from specialists in community medicine (child health), (SCM (CH)), indicated a varied awareness of the needs of such parents and differed greatly in views as to which professionals should provide support. The ‘ideal’ of the primary health care team meeting these needs was often mentioned but this ideal was not achieved in reality. Major obstructions to setting up suitable services were delays or difficulties in notification of deaths from some coroners, local medical committees' disapproval and shortage of staff.

The majority described increasing reliance on the health visitor for immediate help in the bereavement and for later support and counselling. This has important implications for health visitor training and staffing. That many SCMs (CH) feel uncertain as to how best to offer a service for parents bereaved by cot death was reflected in requests for further information on completion of the study. A small number had been stimulated to action as a result of the enquiry.

Community support for bereaved parents varies widely across the country. There is a need to ensure speedy and reliable notification of the death, to raise levels of awareness in all professionals to the difficulties experienced by a family which has lost a child and to utilize and improve the skills of those best equipped to help.