RESUMEN

When a child dies in utero death becomes an integrated part of the mothers living body and this complex experience places a heavy existential and bodily burden on a woman experiencing stillbirth. This study uses a phenomenological approach with focus groups and individual interviews and data is discussed within a theoretical existential framework. Interviews of six women who experienced stillbirth within a range of 5 years were performed in Denmark. The participants experienced the dissonance of carrying death in their living body, expressed heightened existential considerations, a sense of transgression and of feeling trapped in an unbearable situation, and an experience of both dislocation from their body and an extreme bodily awareness. The study generates new knowledge and understanding of the how stillbirth is experienced as incomprehensible and as a violent bodily invasion of death with deep existential impact.

RESUMEN

This study describes religious/spiritual beliefs, practices, changes, and needs among parents bereaved by pregnancy or neonatal loss, and assess gender differences in religiosity/spirituality, in this population. A cross-sectional study using data from the Danish cohort Life After the Loss was conducted. Data were gathered from a questionnaire survey collected between January 2016 and December 2019. Among 713 respondents, several answered in the affirmative to items related to religious/spiritual beliefs and practices. Some experienced changes in religious/spiritual beliefs and practices, and some wished to talk to someone about these questions. Women reported higher levels of religiosity/spirituality than men.

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RESUMEN

OBJECTIVE: To describe the clinical characteristics of women admitted to a specialized unit for bereaved parents and to identify the characteristics of women who stayed more than 2 days. DESIGN: A population-based descriptive study. SETTING: A midwifery-led specialized unit for bereaved parents at Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark. PARTICIPANTS: Women with miscarriage (>14 weeks), missed abortion (>14 weeks), termination of pregnancy (>14 weeks), stillbirth, or death of their neonate during the first 48 hours after birth. METHODS: We collected information from the electronic health care records for women admitted to the unit from January 2012 through December 2018, including parity, type of loss, gestational age, mode and duration of birth, pain relief, and duration of stay. RESULTS: From January 1, 2012. to December 31, 2018, 579 women were admitted to the unit. Hospitalization varied from 1 day to 1 week. More women with a loss after 22 gestational weeks stayed for more than 2 days. In multivariate analyses, the hazard ratio (HR) of staying longer than 2 days was 1.3 times greater for primiparous women than for multiparous women (HR = 1.3, 95% confidence interval [1.0, 1.7]) and 2.4 times greater for women with near-term loss compared to women with perinatal loss before gestational week 22 (HR = 2.4, 95% confidence interval [1.7, 3.6]). CONCLUSION: Providing unlimited stay at a specialized unit for perinatal loss resulted in variation in length of stay. Primiparous women and women who lost neonates or fetuses closer to term gestation were more likely to stay in the unit for up to 8 days. This may indicate a need for individual support not available in standard care.

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