Psychological complications after stillbirth--influence of memories and immediate management: population based study

Abstract

It is advisable to induce the delivery as soon as feasible after the diagnosis of death in utero. A calm environment for the woman to spend as much time as she wants with her stillborn child is beneficial, and tokens of remembrance should be collected.

Guilt after the loss of a husband to cancer: Is there a relation with the health care provided?

“…Previous results suggest that the most feasible means of reducing bereaved parents long-term psychological burden is to minimize the child's physical pain and improve the care at the moment of death [21]. Furthermore, having the possibility to spend as much time as needed with the stillborn child and collecting a token of remembrance influence later psychological suffering in the bereaved parent [14]. The strengths of our study include our nonselected, nation-wide, population-based cohort of widows, utilizing registries covering virtually 100% of all eligible individuals.…”

Recovering from stillbirth: the effects of making and sharing memories on maternal mental health

“…Most prospective parents are not prepared for the possibility of stillbirth (Layne, 2003), so it is a shocking and highly emotional experience that can impact negatively on the mental health of all family members, particularly the mother (e.g., Badenhorst, Riches, Turton, & Hughes, 2006;Boyle, Vance, Najman, & Thearle, 1996;Cacciatore, Schnebly, & Frǿen, 2009;DeFrain, Martens, Stork, & Stork, 1990;Rǻdestad, Steineck, Nordin, & Sjögren, 1996;Turton, Hughes, Evans, & Fainman, 2001;Vance et al, 1995). Even in high-income countries where professional psychological support is available, the incidence of depression, anxiety and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms is about 20% in mothers of stillborn babies (Frǿen et al, 2011).…”

The unrecognised cost of cancer patients' unrelieved symptoms:a nationwide follow-up of their surviving partners

“…We have used established scales for measuring anxiety related symptoms (STAI-T) and depression related symptoms (CES-D), and added clear direct questions (tested by face validity and previous investigations) (Helgason et al, 1996;Rådestad et al, 1996;Bergmark et al, 1999) pertaining to anxiety, depression, and consumption of tranquillising drugs. Our questions about the patient's condition were tested by face validity and in preparatory studies.…”

“…These comprise: the women's age (Ball, 1977); marital status and educational level (Rådestad et al, 1996); emotional relations/support (Kurz et al, 1997); the women's participation in the care of her partner (Häggmark et al, 1991); intensity of religious faith; treatment for mental health problems prior to the disease/ loss; the site and duration of the patient's illness; and the duration of time the woman was aware of her partner's impending death (awareness time) (identified in this data set).…”

“…In a previous investigation (Rådestad et al, 1996) we found that sub-optimal acts of care during stillbirth resulted in additional psychological traumata -increasing the risk of psychological morbidity among the mothers 3 years after the event. With similar methods as in our previous investigations (Helgason et al, 1996;Rådestad et al, 1996;Bergmark et al, 1999) we investigated if a cancer patient's unrelieved symptoms (physical pain and psychological symptoms) during the last 3 months of life increased the risk of long-term psychological complications in the surviving widow. We utilised the excellent conditions in Sweden, with a unique civil registration number for all citizens and nearly 100% complete population registers, to collect information from a large unselected population of widows who lost their male partner owing to cancer three years earlier.…”