Recognizing that grieving occurs in parents of stillborn infants, attention is focused on aspects of grief, both similar to others bereavements and particular to perinatal loss. Processes in perinatal bereavement, pathological variants of perinatal grief, and the conditions and interventions affecting the outcome of grief at stillbirth are considered. Suggestions for further research are offered.
Perinatal death is a tragic occurrence, and parents vary in their needs and how they express grief. This prospective study describes choices parents made regarding contact with their baby following stillbirth or immediate neonatal death. Between 1 January 1979 and 1 March 1991, 808 consecutive families were enrolled in the Perinatal Mortality Counseling Program at the University of Florida. Following perinatal death, most parents wanted contact with their baby to personalize the event, information about the death and follow-up from their health care providers. However, no option was chosen by all parents. This large study strongly supports offering choices to all parents. Providers should neither bias parents nor make presumptions that would limit parental choices.
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