Counseling Women Who Have Experienced Pregnancy Loss: A Review of the Literature

Cultural Dimensions of Early Pregnancy Loss: Spiritual and Religious Issues

“…Searches for the key terms "early pregnancy loss" and "miscarriage" in American Counseling Association (ACA) flagship and divisional journals, as well as other counseling-related journals, the International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling, The Professional Counselor, and The Clinical Supervisor, yielded only six counseling articles related to early pregnancy loss published in the past 20 years. Only half of those focused on early pregnancy loss specifically with one empirical investigation (Wagner et al, 2018), one literature review discussing miscarriage as well as pregnancy losses across gestational ages (Randolph et al, 2015), and one conceptual article focusing on miscarriage (Trepal et al, 2005). To the best of our knowledge, there are no empirical studies in the counseling literature investigating women's experiences of early pregnancy loss, although global researchers in other helping fields (e.g., nursing) have conducted some qualitative studies toward that end (Radford & Hughes, 2015).…”

“…We use the term partner to refer to stakeholders in the pregnancy, including biological fathers, romantic partners, and surrogate parents. Although we focus on early pregnancy loss, it is important to acknowledge that there are also issues related to grief, loss, mental health, wellness, culture, religion/ spirituality, and gender for women and partners who experience later losses (Randolph et al, 2015).…”

“…With approximately 750,000 to 1,000,000 early pregnancy losses per year in the United States, researchers estimate that between 15% and 20% of clinically confirmed pregnancies end in a loss between 5 and 20 weeks of pregnancy (Bardos et al, 2015). Given the prevalence of these losses, and the scope of cultural messages related to both reproduction and death, the lack of support around acknowledging and coping with miscarriage (Randolph et al, 2015) is stunning. In contrast to this lack of support, cultural messages related to the meaning and conceptualization of early pregnancy loss, including religious/spiritual (R/S) dimensions, abound in dominant culture.…”

“…As such, miscarriage can significantly affect mental health and holistic wellness for many women and partners. Effects may include grief, R/S struggle or injury, trauma, dissociation, confusion, rumination, fear, shame, self‐blame, isolation, body betrayal, depression, anxiety, health anxiety, damage to self‐concept, couples issues, and attachment difficulties in subsequent pregnancies (Bardos et al, 2015; O'Leary & Henke, 2017; Radford & Hughes, 2015; Randolph et al, 2015). Researchers estimate that as many as 50% of women experience clinically significant symptoms of psychological distress following an early pregnancy loss (Randolph et al, 2015).…”

A Tale of Unseen Suffering: Experience of Recurrent Miscarriage Through Duoethnography

“…"The silence is deafening" (Rowlands & Lee, 2010, p. 274). I see articles (Gerber-Epstein, Leichtentritt, & Benyamini, 2009;Lok & Neugebauer, 2007;Randolph, Hruby, & Sharif, 2015;Rowland & Lee, 2010) that show women's lived experiences of miscarriage. This is encouraging to read, as it focuses on the intrapersonal, interpersonal, and systemic messages related to miscarriage.…”