Impact of perinatal loss on the subsequent pregnancy and self: women's experiences.
OBJECTIVE
To describe the experience of a pregnancy after perinatal loss.


METHODS
Descriptive, open-ended responses to a self-completed questionnaire.


METHODS
Questionnaires were distributed at a prenatal visit and completed in the office or at home.


METHODS
Seventy-two women who were 17 to 28 weeks pregnant, with a history of one or two perinatal losses.


METHODS
Themes that emerged from the women's responses to the questions.


RESULTS
Three main dimensions, Past Pregnancy, Current Pregnancy, and Self constituted the overall framework for the themes of pregnancy anxiety, significant points in time, ways of coping, safe passage, social acceptance, binding-in, and grief and loss.


CONCLUSIONS
Pregnancy after perinatal loss is characterized by guarded emotions, anxiety about this pregnancy, marking off the progress of the pregnancy in terms of fetal development and safety, and individual ways of coping to meet the tasks of pregnancy by seeking out or avoiding various behaviors. Women who have experienced perinatal loss would benefit from interventions to help them through these anxiety-filled pregnancies.
Côte-Arsenault
D
D
Syracuse University's College of Nursing, NY 13244, USA.
Mahlangu
N
N
D000022:Abortion, Spontaneous / Q000523:psychology*; D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety; D005260:Female; D005313:Fetal Death; D006117:Grief; D006801:Humans; D009511:New England; D011247:Pregnancy / Q000523:psychology*; D012649:Self Concept; D012944:Social Support