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Problem: Miscarriage and stillbirth can severely impact maternal mental well-being., Background: In Japan, local municipalities must prepare systems to provide mental and social-spiritual support to women after miscarriage or stillbirth., Objective: To elucidate what spiritually supports the mental health of women who have experienced miscarriages and stillbirths., Methods: This analysis included 25 women who had experienced miscarriage or stillbirth at least one month previously and participated in self-help group meetings at least twice. Data were collected from March 2020 to March 2021 using two narrative interviews and questionnaires., Findings: The mothers led their lives "together" with their children. They derived spiritual support from others, such as "the presence of someone who is living now after having experienced anguish" and "others who acknowledge the presence of my child and me as a mother. " Further elements of the support included "resigning myself to face my grief" and "strong links to deceased children. " While facing their grief by accepting that this anguish cannot be replaced [with anything else] and resigning themselves to reality, their bond to their child is strengthened., Conclusion: What women perceive as support after a miscarriage or stillbirth will be an important clue to care.

Grief care provided by visiting nurses has an important role with the family through continued involvement before and after the patient's death. Given that there were few support and educational systems for nurses offering grief care in Japan, this study aimed to develop a grief care education program for visiting nurses. The educational focus was to improve visiting nurses' knowledge and motivation and actions for providing grief care and to promote networking between participants. The study design was a longitudinal 1-group pretest-posttest study. Participants were a convenience sample of 114 nurses who had applied for the program in response to a recruiting announcement mailed to home visit nursing care stations in the suburbs of Tokyo. The education program was conducted in a single session consisting of a lecture, a case study, narrative, and reflection. The program was evaluated at 4 different times before and after the program using anonymous self-report questionnaires. Data were statistically analyzed using repetitive 1-way analysis of variance and Bonferroni multiple comparison. The score for ''understanding of grief care'' and ''provide grief care through multiprofessional collaboration'' scored significantly higher after the program. ''The quality of my nursing practice improved'' showed a significant rise. ''Promotion of networking'' scored high just after the program, but later, the scores were significantly lower. Therefore, participants deepened their understanding of grief care and learned to support bereaved families in collaboration with other professions. Creating an education program can provide mutual support against stress and contribute to learning, if it is done with awareness of where nurses have a designated meeting place for supporting each other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of professional training in bereavement care. Method We mailed a questionnaire to 554 Japanese pediatricians. It asked about demographic characteristics, personal support experiences, professional training, psychological distress, recognition of high risk after a child's death, and eight items relating to awareness in bereavement care. We divided the subjects into two groups based on the presence or absence of professional training and compared them on the basis of each item (χ2 test), and conducted logistic regression analysis. Results Of the 239 respondents, 193 (80.8%) had performed bereavement care. The final number included in the analysis was 175, after excluding responses with missing data. A total of 46 respondents (26.3%) had attended bereavement care training. The subjects who had had training were more likely to recognize those at high risk for poor psychological recovery, have information about support groups, have a desire to study bereavement care, and understand the necessity of cooperation with mental health specialists. Conclusion Many pediatricians had personally provided support for the bereaved. On logistic analysis, it was considered that four factors (recognition of high risk for poor recovery, information about support, desire to study, and cooperation with professionals) were significantly associated with the professional training. There were no significant differences, however, in psychological distress, helplessness, and fatigue. Training programs related to stress management must be improved for pediatricians who feel high levels of psychological distress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to explore the implementation of bereavement care in hospice/palliative care settings in Japan, a self-administered questionnaire was sent to all 54 government-approved hospice/palliative care units (PCUs) in May of 1999 (recovery rate 93%). Results showed that bereavement follow-up is performed in 37 institutes (74%) and memorial cards and services are most frequently provided. Memorial cards are provided mainly by nurses, and memorial services involve many health care professionals as well as volunteers. Religious workers tended to be involved in memorial services and social group meetings. Individually oriented interventions such as telephone contacts, personal visits and personal counselling were reportedly used less often. The need for individual-oriented programmes was recognized, and many institutes were considering the expansion of their programmes to include them. However, the difficulties of implementing such care at hospice/PCUs were also raised. Two socio-cultural factors possibly affecting bereavement care in Japan, namely, the roles of family and religious (Buddhist) ceremonies were discussed. It was pointed out that the spirit of bereavement care may be embodied in existing religious ceremonies. We conclude that it is necessary to develop bereavement care programmes based on common, basic hospice care tenets while making full use of existing local resources and taking into account regional values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]