The impact of a subsequent pregnancy on grief and emotional adjustment following a perinatal loss
✍ Scribed by Renée-Louise Franche; Cathy Bulow
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1999
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 124 KB
- Volume
- 20
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0163-9641
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
The present study examined the impact of a subsequent pregnancy on emotional adjustment associated with a previous perinatal loss and on the following components of parental grief-active grief, difficulty coping, despair. Participants included 25 women and 24 partners who were expecting a baby for the first time since their loss and 25 women and 18 partners who were not expecting and had not had a child or pregnancy after their loss. Depressive symptomatology, anxiety, marital adjustment, as well as active grief, despair, and difficulty coping were measured. Mothers who were not pregnant were experiencing significantly higher levels of despair and difficulty coping than pregnant mothers, independently from the effect of time elapsed since the loss. For the fathers, no significant group effect in emotional distress or intensity of grief was found. Women reported significantly higher levels of negative affectivity than men. A new pregnancy may be associated with a beneficial effect on the mourning process of women with a previous perinatal loss, primarily by decreasing their despair and difficulty coping. However, in our sample, grief intensity remained high, suggesting that the mourning process may not be hindered by a subsequent pregnancy.
RESUMEN: El presente estudio examina el impacto que un embarazo subsecuente tiene en cuanto al ajuste emocional asociado con una previa pe ´rdida perinatal, ası ´como en los consiguientes componentes de pena-pena activa, dificultad en el enfrentamiento con situaciones, y la desesperacı ´on, Entre los participantes se encontraban 25 mujeres y 24 de sus parejas que esperaban un nin ˜o por primera vez desde que habı ´an experimentado la pe ´rdida, y 25 mujeres y 24 de sus parejas que no estaban esperando y no habı ´an tenido ningu ´n nin ˜o ni habı ´an experimentado un embarazo despue ´s de la pe ´rdida. Se midieron la sintomatologı ´a depresiva, la ansiedad, el ajuste marital, ası ´como la pena activa, la desesperacio ´n y la dificultad de enfrentarse con situaciones, Las madres que no estaban embarazadas estaban experimentando niveles significativamente ma ´s altos de desesperacio ´n y dificultad de enfrentarse con situaciones que las madres embarazadas, independientemente del efecto del tiempo transcurrido desde la pe ´rdida. En cuanto a los padres, no se encontro ńingu ´n efecto significativo como grupo en cuanto a trastornos emocionales o a la intensidad de la pena. Las mujeres reportaron niveles significativamente ma ´s altos de afectividad negativa que los hombres.
This study was funded by the Ministry of Health of Ontario and by the Ottawa General Hospital Research Foundation. We wish to thank the staff of the Ottawa General Hospital Perinatology and Obstetrics clinics for their cooperation in the recruitment of participants.