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One in four American women will experience a miscarriage, stillbirth or neonatal death each time she becomes pregnant. These perinatal losses occur even more frequently in women who are immigrants from developing countries. Care of Muslim families after perinatal loss is based primarily on expert opinion as opposed to research evidence, as few, if any, studies exist on this topic. It is critically important to know what parent's preferences for care actually are, since care that is incongruent with the desires of the bereaved parents may intensify their grief. The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions and attitudes of immigrant Arab Muslims regarding psychosocial bereavement practices common in the United States after perinatal loss and to pilot test an investigator‐developed instrument for collecting data regarding culturally relevant psychosocial bereavement practices of immigrant Arab Muslims after perinatal loss. The study employed a cross‐sectional survey design using an investigator‐developed instrument entitled the Arab Muslim Perceptions of Perinatal Loss Care (AMPPLC). The AMPPLC, available in both English and Arabic, was used to collect data on perinatal loss care from a convenience sample of 79 immigrant Arab Muslim adults (male n = 43 [54.4%]; female n = 36 [45.6%]). The study opened in June 2017 and closed in August 2019. The AMPPLC instrument demonstrated good reliability (α = 0.89) in measuring participants' responses. Responses by survey participants did not always agree with prior published literature on Muslim preferences after a loss. Optimal care for Arab Muslim immigrants involves offering all options that are typically part of Western bereavement care as well as options that may be more specifically associated with Islam. This information will enable healthcare providers to provide more culturally sensitive and compassionate care to Middle Eastern Muslim parents during this difficult and tragic experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A continuum of reproductive causality is postulated, extending from fetal deaths - abortion, stillbirth, and neonatal - through a descending gradient of brain damage manifested in neuropsychiatric disorders. The research and administrative public health implications of these findings and the concept of the continuum are briefly but provocatively discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents Practice Bulletin No. 1 from the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians & Gynecologists (AAPLOG) group which provides physicians and members of the public with information about the concept of perinatal hospice care and a methodology for offering compassion for families with adverse prenatal diagnoses. Partial birth abortions and diagnoses of lethal fetal anomalies are mentioned, along with grief and the moral and ethical aspects of abortions.

We build on recent studies on the consequences of miscarriage and stillbirth for women to assess the (a) odds of divorce among women who experienced a loss compared to those who did not; and (b) fertility-specific characteristics that increase odds of divorce. Utilizing a nationally representative sample of 3,461 women who have ever been pregnant and married, we find that women who experienced miscarriage or stillbirth have greater odds of divorce than women who did not experience a loss, and we highlight the importance of characteristics associated with the pregnancy and loss experiences: gestation length, whether the pregnancy had been planned, and experiencing multiple losses. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Women pregnant again after prior perinatal loss fear another loss and thus protect their emotions and avoid prenatal bonding. This phenomenon, emotional cushioning, appears to be a complex self-protective mechanism and is proposed here as a unique combination of circumstances and responses used by women to cope with the anxiety, uncertainty, and sense of vulnerability experienced in these subsequent pregnancies. Related literature is reviewed to clarify and circumscribe what emotional cushioning is. In this mixed-methods study, a convenience sample of women pregnant after perinatal loss (N=63) completed the Pregnancy Anxiety Scale during and following pregnancy and responded to questions regarding 'holding back their emotions' in pregnancy. The purpose was to describe the range and prevalence of emotional cushioning, to compare pre- and post-natal reports of emotional cushioning, and to examine relationships between emotional cushioning and pregnancy anxiety pre- and post-natally. The majority of women (58.7%) reported some emotional cushioning. Emotional cushioning questions were significantly and positively correlated with pregnancy anxiety. Clinical and research implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]