Child Life Clinical Internship Curriculum - Child Life Council

Objectives
In the process of completing this module the child life intern will:
1. Describe the variety of losses that may be experienced by families in health care and
note examples of family grief as they are encountered during internship. Discuss
appropriate provision of palliative care before end‐of‐life.
2. Assess the needs of families who are grieving loss or entering end‐of‐life situations,
demonstrating awareness of the cultural and familial strengths and vulnerabilities that
may contribute to the families’ coping styles.
3. Assess family members’ preferences related to the participation of their child in
decision‐making and identify ways to support the family in sharing all perspectives in
the planning of care goals.
4. Demonstrate the ability to collaborate with the family and medical team to gather and
share information pertinent the family’s specific needs for support.
5. Plan and provide psychosocial interventions for patient and family.
6. Evaluate efficacy of interventions provided, adapting as needed.
7. Document child life interventions in the medical record.
Required Activities
The intern will:
1. Observe and discuss with CCLS various examples of loss experienced by families served,
identifying families’ expressions of grief and their coping strategies.
2. Discuss and /or demonstrate methods of gathering information from patients and
families in order to assess their needs and wishes during a palliative care/bereavement
situation.
3. Describe children’s understanding of death as related to the cognitive stages of
development.
4. Create a list of developmentally‐appropriate interventions for explaining death and for
encouraging expression of feelings when supporting children and adolescents in
bereavement.
5. Assemble a personal bibliography of books and other effective materials that can be
utilized to support children, adolescents and adults facing a variety of losses in addition
to bereavement.
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