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Stillbirth commonly affects women in Nigeria, but their experiences of grief following stillbirth is under explored. This study aimed to describe Nigerian women's experiences of grief after stillbirth. Face-to-face, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 women in Nigeria who experienced stillbirth. The results from the thematic analysis suggest that mothers had an unmet need to see their stillborn baby, and they experienced communication challenges such as being blindsided/misled about the baby during their interactions with health personnel. The participants experienced emotional and psychological reactions to grief that manifested in the form of emotional pain, sadness, blame and shock, but having a sense of gratitude helped them cope. The findings of this study highlight gaps in bereavement care and suggest the need for basic bereavement training for health personnel., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Despite almost one-third of women suffering from the loss of a baby through miscarriage, stillbirth, or infant loss, it is surprising how little research examines how such loss affects the identity and stigmas experienced by these individuals. Through in-depth, semi-structured interviews with bereaved mothers (in particular, mothers who lost a baby during pregnancy or within one year after birth), this research sheds light on the bereaved mother's experiences after loss. Specifically, this research applies the identity-threat model of stigma to showcase the process of stigmatized loss. Based on our findings, we also introduce the process model of stigmatized loss that can apply to all types of stigmatized loss. Key themes emerged as we explored stigmatized loss discourses. These include situational cues that trigger stigma, identity-based responses that aim to preserve both a baby's and mother's identity, as well as nonvolitional and volitional responses that help restore control and reconstruct identity. Additionally, other themes revolve around positive and negative outcomes stemming from avoiding stigmatized identity activation and identification of triggers that initiate a recursive process through stigmatized baby loss. Importantly, stigma can be perceived as both an identity threat (negative) and an identity confirmation (positive). Findings inform theory and practice alike., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Healthcare professionals' psychological involvement in perinatal loss is a largely overlooked subject by healthcare systems, scientific research and prevention policies. A systematic scientific review has been carried out about emotional experiences, attributed meanings and needs conveyed by healthcare professionals in relation to perinatal loss. We identified 213 studies between 1985 and 2015, 20 of which were included in the present study for qualitative analysis. Our results point out the need for a targeted vocational training in perinatal loss, enabling healthcare professionals to achieve a proper management of their own internal states.

The stillbirth of her son prompted this nurse to look inside herself for the tools needed to move forward both personally and professionally. The first tasks were to learn how to trust herself again and find hope for the future. This journey prompted her to create a nonprofit organization, Star Legacy Foundation, that utilizes what she learned, and to expand her definition of what it means to be a health-care professional., (© 2018 Creative Health Care Management.)

The death of a baby is one of the most challenging bereavements for parents and healthcare professionals. This study explores the spiritual and theological issues raised for healthcare chaplains as they minister with parents following perinatal bereavement. Chaplains from 85% of maternity units in the Republic of Ireland participated in this study. Suffering, doubt and presence were the main theological themes raised for chaplains following perinatal death. The process of theological reflection is recommended as a sustaining and necessary tool in perinatal healthcare ministry., (© The Author(s) 2015.)

Despite its prevalence worldwide, stillbirth is poorly understood and rarely discussed. Accordingly, ministers and other pastoral caregivers are seldom prepared to counsel and console parents suffering from this type of infant loss and to effectively design, propose, and lead ministries within their faith communities for this grieving population. This article addresses the immediate pastoral needs of bereaved parents and proposes first and second order responses that ministers and faith communities can employ to compassionately and effectively care for parents suffering from the trauma of stillbirth., (© The Author(s) 2015 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav.)

This study investigated mothers' experiences surrounding stillbirth in the United Kingdom, their memory making and sharing opportunities, and the effect these opportunities had on them. Qualitative data were generated from free text responses to open-ended questions. Thematic content analysis revealed that "stigma" was experienced by most women and Goffman's (1963) work on stigma was subsequently used as an analytical framework. Results suggest that stillbirth can spoil the identities of "patient," "mother," and "full citizen." Stigma was reported as arising from interactions with professionals, family, friends, work colleagues, and even casual acquaintances. Stillbirth produces common learning experiences often requiring "identity work" (Murphy, 2012). Memory making and sharing may be important in this work and further research is needed. Stigma can reduce the memory sharing opportunities for women after stillbirth and this may explain some of the differential mental health effects of memory making after stillbirth that is documented in the literature.

This article presents secondary analysis of data from parents who, 50 to 70 years ago, birthed stillborn babies or babies with lethal anomalies and from adult children born after these losses. The stories reflect a time in history when parents were "protected" from seeing or holding their babies and mothers were unable to attend the funeral. There was no understanding by society or caregivers for parents' need to process the loss or resources to build memories. They provide a strong argument for health care providers to offer such resources to parents today and offer grief support.

When a baby has died during pregnancy, the first encounter between mother and child occurs when the baby is already dead. Despair, emptiness, and grief characterize the encounter, which is also a gradual farewell to the child and the planned future for the family. This study describes mothers' experiences of the farewell of their stillborn baby at discharge from hospital. Twenty-three mothers from different parts of Sweden, who suffered stillbirth, were interviewed. Semi-structured questions were used and the replies were analyzed using content analysis. The mothers describe the separation from the child when leaving hospital as unnatural and that the separation ruins the motherhood they felt during pregnancy. Five categories were identified: unnatural to leave the baby; going home empty-handed; access to the child; security and insecurity in the separation; to let go. The overarching theme that we recognized from these responses we have formulated as: You don't leave your baby. Leaving the baby at the hospital goes against the biological instinct to care for and protect the offspring. Routines for a dignified goodbye including designating a deputy guardian into whose arms the mother can place the baby can help to facilitate the separation. The possibility of leaving the baby in the arms of someone known to the parents should be an option for parents who choose to take farewell of the child at the hospital. The place and time for the farewell should be decided on by the parents, taking the baby home for a personal farewell could be an alternative.

Background: The continued ability for a mother to produce breast milk following the death of her baby in utero, at birth, or during the postpartum period is an aspect of perinatal loss that is rarely acknowledged., Objective: To explore the lived experience of bereaved mothers who chose to express and donate their breast milk to a milk bank to feed premature and sick babies following the loss of their own babies., Methods: Twenty-one bereaved mothers who donated their milk between January 2003 and December 2006 to the Mothers Milk Bank in San Jose, CA or Columbus, OH participated in an in-depth, semistructured interview process about their experiences expressing and donating their milk., Results: Each transcribed interview revealed 4 essential themes, as follows: (1) identifying as a mother, grieving the loss of motherhood; (2) meanings associated with the experience of pumping milk; (3) finding meaning in and integrating the experience of perinatal loss; and (4) the importance of addressing lactation with bereaved mothers. Various subthemes were explored within each essential theme., Conclusion: The experiences of these participants reflect the importance of addressing lactation more thoroughly with bereaved mothers who have lost their babies in utero, at birth, or during the postpartum period and providing them with adequate support and education during the healing process.

This article presents bereaved parents' perceptions of their parents' (the grandparents) reactions at the time of loss and in the pregnancy that follows. Data originated from two phenomenological studies conducted to understand bereaved parents' experiences during their loss and subsequent pregnancy. However, this article reports a secondary thematic analysis focused on bereaved parents perceptions of the grandparents' support (or lack of) at the time of loss and during the pregnancy following loss. Our findings illustrate some families found the means to share their grief at the time of loss in a constructive manner, while in others the intergenerational relationship was strained. Most important to parents was intergenerational acknowledgment of the ongoing relationship to the deceased child as an important, though absent family member, especially during the pregnancy that followed. Those supporting bereaved families can play an important role in helping intergenerational communication around perinatal loss and the subsequent pregnancy., (© The Author(s) 2011)

Following perinatal loss, a type of ambiguous loss, bereaved couples struggle with and experience distress due to various forms of ambiguity. Moreover, the juxtaposition of their grief with society's minimization often disenfranchises them from traditional grieving processes. The purpose of this study was to explore sources of ambiguity and disenfranchised grief related to perinatal loss. Audio-taped interviews with 13 bereaved couples at 2, 6, and 13 months following the death of their fetus or infant were analyzed. Several categories of ambiguity and disenfranchised grief emerged, pertaining to: (a) the viability of the pregnancy; (b) the physical process of pregnancy loss; (c) making arrangements for the remains; and (d) sharing the news. This study uncovers the many sources of ambiguity and disenfranchised grief that bereaved couples face in interactions with family, friends, society, and healthcare professionals. These insights may inform healthcare professionals in their attempts to ease distress related to perinatal loss.

Caring for parents whose infant has died is extremely demanding, difficult, and stressful. In some situations, nurses may experience personal failure, feel helpless, and need to distance themselves from bereaved parents because they are unable to deal with the enormity of the parental feelings of loss. The aim of the study was to describe and compare attitudes toward perinatal bereavement care across a sample of nurses working in five obstetrics and gynecology settings from three Asian cities, as well as the factors associated with these attitudes. A survey was conducted, and 573 nurses were recruited from 2006 to 2007. The data were collected using the perinatal bereavement attitudes scale, which involves an 11-item self-report questionnaire. Nurses' attitudes were mainly positive, but differed across cities, with the attitude of Jinan nurses being significantly more positive than nurses from the other two cities, and the attitude of Hong Kong nurses being significantly the lowest. Positive attitudes were associated with position, and nurses who were well informed of hospital policy and received training for bereavement care were statistically significantly more likely to have a positive attitude toward perinatal bereavement care. Although nurses' attitudes to prenatal bereavement care differ significantly across the three Asian cities, they are generally similar. The differences observed could be related to the wider social, cultural, and organizational circumstances of nursing practice.

This study aims to capture parental descriptions of how siblings take leave of and mourn a stillborn brother or sister and how their parents support them. Data were collected by questionnaires from 16 parents of siblings to a stillborn child one year after the stillbirth. Data were analysed numerically for the multiple-choice questions and content analysis was used for parental comments and descriptions. The results describe siblings' farewell to a stillborn brother or sister and how their parents in the midst of their own grief were involved in supporting siblings' wellbeing, and observed their mourning reactions. Although the findings need to be interpreted with caution, they may provide insight that enables staff to become more sensitive to the whole family experience in the practice of their profession. Further research into siblings' grief and parental support after stillbirth is crucial so that further light may be shed on their situation.

Background: A change in the pattern of movement of her unborn baby could be indicative that the baby might die., Aim: To study mothers' experiences during the time prior to receiving news that their baby has died., Method: Interviews with 26 mothers., Results: Premonition that something had happened to their baby, a sense based on a lack of movements were experienced. Six categories describe the mother's insight that the baby's life was threatened: not feeling in touch with their baby; worry feeling something is wrong; not understanding the unbelievable; wanting information; and being certain that their baby had died. The overarching theme "There is something wrong" was formulated., Conclusion: The mother could not understand the unbelievable: that the baby had died in utero., Implications: Mother's should be cautioned to trust their insights and seek medical advice if they are concerned over the lack of movement from the unborn baby.

The death of a child is a traumatic, nonnormative family life event. Although parental bereavement has received substantial attention, little research has focused on extended family members affected by a child's death, and still less on how multiple family members perceive and respond to one another following the loss. Guided by a life course perspective, this article examines social support between grandparents and their adult children in the aftermath of infant death. Through structured, open-ended interviews, 21 grandparents and 19 parents from 10 families described how they provided support to and received support from their intergenerational partners. Data were analyzed using a grounded theory approach. Six categories of support were identified: being present, acknowledgment, performing immediate tasks, information, unskilled support, and no support. Most support was provided by grandparents to adult children rather than from adult children to grandparents. All families reported significant support from at least one grandparent and nearly all families described ambivalent relationships that complicated support. Gender, family lineage, and family history were major influences. Multiple family perspectives about a significant life event contribute to our understanding about the intersection between individual and family life.

This article describes the experiences of women in Northern Ireland who have experienced a miscarriage or stillbirth. Pregnancy loss encompasses several dimensions of loss for women, loss of the future, loss of self-identity, and the loss of anticipated parenthood. The study explored how women emotionally responded to loss and the care they received from medical staff. Burial arrangements for the remains of the baby are also explored. The methodology adopted a narrative approach based upon in-depth interviews with 23 women who attended pregnancy loss self-help groups. The women's narratives highlight their emotional responses to loss, the medicalization of perinatal grief, and burial arrangements. Women felt that their experience was emotionally negative in that they had been subjected to a rationalizing process of medicalization. The primary focus for the women was on the need to recover space for their emotions and seek acceptance and recognition of the validity of their grief. The study demonstrated that the women's response to being marginalized led them to make sense of their experiences and to create spaces of resistance to medicalization. The way in which women placed emotion at the center of their narratives is taken to be a powerful indicator that the support they require from professionals should take account of the meanings they have constructed from their experience of loss.

Studies published in the last few years have suggested that the current practice in hospital obstetric units of encouraging parents to spend time with, hold, and even care for their stillborn fetus or baby may be deleterious to them. Rather than helping to allay grieving and successfully bring mourning to closure, mothers who had increasing levels of contact with the body of their stillborn baby were incrementally more likely to suffer depression and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder in their next pregnancy and to have difficulty with attachment to their next child. These findings parallel observations from meta-analyses that question the efficacy of single-session debriefing (Critical Incident Stress Debriefing) after psychological trauma in preventing the later emergence of symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Although not conclusive, these initial studies support the urgent need for further research to allow evidence-based pastoral care for those whose pregnancies end in stillbirth and loss. Given this much uncertainty about the risks posed by contact with her stillborn baby, mothers who do not chose to see their dead infants should not be persuaded to do so on the grounds of beneficence.

This research study explores the effects of support groups on traumatic stress responses of women experiencing stillbirth. Women (N = 47) responded to a mixed method questionnaire. Quantitative results utilizing the Impact of Event Scale Revised demonstrate that women who attend support group, when controlling for time, had fewer post traumatic stress symptoms than did the women who did not attend support group. Qualitative results elucidate the role of support groups in managing grief, suggesting that connectivity with other like women may be a useful strategy in reducing problematic psychological outcomes.

The study was an empirical examination of the relation of personality proneness to "problematic social emotions"--envy (Dispositional Envy Scale), jealousy (Interpersonal Jealousy Scale), and shame and guilt (Personal Feelings Questionnaire-2)--to maternal grief (Perinatal Grief Scale-33) following miscarriage, stillbirth, neonatal death, or infant/child death. The 441 women who participated in the study were enrolled from the Website, e-mail contact lists, and parent support groups of an organization that offers information and support to bereaved parents. All four problematic emotions were positively correlated with maternal grief. Envy, jealousy, and guilt made significant unique contributions to the variance in maternal grief. Overall, time lapse since the loss and the four problematic emotion predispositions explained 43% of the variance in maternal grief following child bereavement.