"A renewed sense of purpose": Mothers' and fathers' experience of having a child following a recent stillbirth

BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth

Research Article

Antje Horsch¹  Louise Campbell-Jackson²  Jessica Bezance² 

[1] Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Research Unit, Rue du Bugnon 25 A, University Hospital Lausanne, CH-1011, Lausanne, Switzerland;Department of Neonatology, University Hospital Lausanne, Avenue Pierre-Decker 2, CH-1011, Lausanne, Switzerland;Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University Hospital Lausanne, Avenue Pierre-Decker 2, CH-1011, Lausanne, Switzerland;Oxford Institute of Clinical Psychology Training, Isis Education Centre, Warneford Hospital, OX3 7JX, Oxford, UK;

关键词: Stillbirth;    Mothers;    Fathers;    Perinatal loss;    Grief;    Qualitative research;    IPA;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12884-014-0423-x

 received in 2014-05-26, accepted in 2014-12-10,  发布年份 2014

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundMost research has focused on mothers’ experiences of perinatal loss itself or on the subsequent pregnancy, whereas little attention has been paid to both parents’ experiences of having a child following late perinatal loss and the experience of parenting this child. The current study therefore explored mothers’ and fathers' experiences of becoming a parent to a child born after a recent stillbirth, covering the period of the second pregnancy and up to two years after the birth of the next baby.MethodIn depth interviews were conducted with 7 couples (14 participants). Couples were eligible if they previously had a stillbirth (after 24 weeks of gestation) and subsequently had another child (their first live baby) who was now under the age of 2 years. Couples who had more than one child after experiencing a stillbirth and those who were not fluent in English were excluded. Qualitative analysis of the interview data was conducted using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis.ResultsFive superordinate themes emerged from the data: Living with uncertainty; Coping with uncertainty; Relationship with the next child; The continuing grief process; Identity as a parent. Overall, fathers' experiences were similar to those of mothers', including high levels of anxiety and guilt during the subsequent pregnancy and after the child was born. Coping strategies to address these were identified. Differences between mothers and fathers regarding the grief process during the subsequent pregnancy and after their second child was born were identified. Despite difficulties with bonding during pregnancy and at the time when the baby was born, parents' perceptions of their relationship with their subsequent child were positive.ConclusionsFindings highlight the importance of tailoring support systems not only according to mothers' but also to fathers' needs. Parents’, and particularly fathers', reported lack of opportunities for grieving as well as the high level of anxiety of both parents about their baby's wellbeing during pregnancy and after birth implies a need for structured support. Difficulties experienced in bonding with the subsequent child during pregnancy and once the child is born need to be normalised.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Campbell-Jackson et al.; licensee BioMed Central. 2014. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.