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The 1980s and 1990s saw the remaking of the meaning of perinatal death in Canadian hospitals from that of the silencing to the recognition and attention to women's grief (Davidson, 2007). By the mid-twentieth century both birth and death were increasingly removed from the home and placed in healthcare and funeral facilities (Aries, 1981; Walter, 1994). Beginning in the 1950s when hospital birth had become the general social norm, death around the time of birth became a new institutional concern. Using a symbolic interactionist approach, I document how this new standard of care emerged as perinatal bereavement protocols in the Canadian context. Situating the emergence in its historical context, it is examined here through the time-relevant literature – that is, the literature that influenced the changes from the 1960s through the early 2000s. Then, examined through more recent literature, I illustrate how the protocols continue to work for one extended family after their experience of stillbirth in 2012. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our objective was to explore parents' experiences of stillbirth using a patient-led qualitative approach, in the Canadian context. Parents who had experienced stillbirth in the previous five years were recruited through posters and snowball sampling. We conducted a co-design focus group to set the direction of our research, narrative interviews, and a reflect focus group to engage parents in finalizing the analysis and findings. Data was analysed iteratively using a participatory approach with grounded theory principles. Our findings highlight that stillbirth is a story of death, but it is also a story of life. Parents (n=11) require the space to experience both the birth and death elements of the story; yet, one or both elements are often silenced. Stillbirth, still life was the core concept that emerged from parents' stories of their stillborn babies. Parents' narratives are driven by the need to honour their babies' lives. They are learning to be unsilenced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although singing is an inherent part of grieving in many cultures, relatively little research has been conducted on how singing is experienced by adults in bereavement support group contexts. The purpose of this study was to examine the singing experiences of seven female adults who participated in a postloss bereavement support music therapy group that took place in a community hospice. Individual interviews were conducted with all participants, who also had the option of submitting written feedback after each group singing session. This feedback, along with interview transcripts, was analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). This resulted in seven narrative summary interpretations that represent explicit and implicit aspects of each individual’s lived experience of singing in this context. Cross case analysis revealed themes organised under five categories, supported with participant quotes. Potential implications for research and practice are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]