What does hospice have to do with parenting?
I recently heard a podcast in which a hospice and palliative care physician was interviewed about his new book on the subject of finding purpose in life. One of the exploratory practices suggested in the book was something called a Life Review. This practice, attributed to a gerontologist named Richard Butler who coined the term in his work during the 1960s, is comprised of a series of reflective questions aimed at assessing past experiences and finding meaning through a structured interview (an example is here). The scientific literature suggests this method is associated with a number of psychological, social/emotional and even cognitive benefits (1-4) for those at the end of life. At the closing of the podcast interview, the doctor asked the question (and I’m paraphrasing), “Why don’t we do this every year instead of waiting until our final days?” I, too, had another thought; why we don’t do this to assess and reflect on our parenting? For many of us, caring for children is an access road to finding meaning and an important, if not the most important, job title we hold.
General practices of reflection and self-inquiry have been associated with health benefits ranging from decreased stress and anxiety to enhanced problem-solving and decision-making to improved sleep (5-7). So, it stands to reason that performing an analogous Life Review exercise for parenting might just contribute positively toward our feelings and self-efficacy about our parenting. With this in mind, I’ve adapted the hospice version of the Life Review and created a Parent Review. Hit the button below to get your PDF copy of my Parent Review.
References
1. Pinquart M, Forstmeier S. Effects of reminiscence interventions on psychosocial outcomes: a meta-analysis. Aging Ment Health. 2012;16(5):541-58. doi: 10.1080/13607863.2011.651434. Epub 2012 Feb 3. PMID: 22304736.
2. Korte J, Bohlmeijer ET, Cappeliez P, Smit F, Westerhof GJ. Life review therapy for older adults with moderate depressive symptomatology: a pragmatic randomized controlled trial. Psychol Med. 2012 Jun;42(6):1163-73. doi: 10.1017/S0033291711002042. PMID: 21995889.
3. Hallford, D. J., & Mellor, D. (2017). Development and Validation of the Awareness of Narrative Identity Questionnaire (ANIQ). Assessment, 24(3), 399-413. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073191115607046.
4. Westerhof, G. J., & Slatman, S. (2019). In search of the best evidence for life review therapy to reduce depressive symptoms in older adults: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 26(4), 11. https://doi.org/10.1111/cpsp.12301.
5. Fleming, S. M., Weil, R. S., Nagy, Z., Dolan, R. J., & Rees, G. (2010). Prefrontal contributions to metacognition in perceptual decision making. The Journal of Neuroscience, 30(32), 11023-11029.
6. Kabat-Zinn J. Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness. New York, New York: Dell Publishing; 1990.
7. Wood, A. M., Joseph, S., Lloyd, J., & Atkins, S. (2009). Gratitude influences sleep through the mechanism of pre-sleep cognitions. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 66(1), 43-48.
