Annsofie Adolfsson

GUILT AND EMPTINESS: WOMEN'S EXPERIENCES OF MISCARRIAGE

Women who lose an early pregnancy are shocked when they are first given the information that they have miscarried. Later they feel guilt and emptiness. Heideggerian interpretive phenomenology has been used with 13 women from southwest Sweden to uncover their lived experience of miscarriage. Women plan their future with a child during early pregnancy. When miscarriage occurs it is not a gore, an embryo, or a fetus they lose, it is their child. They feel that they are the cause of the miscarriage through something they have done, eaten, or thought. They feel abandonment and they grieve for their profound loss; they are actually in bereavement.

QUALITY OF LIFE FOR COUPLES 4-5.5 YEARS AFTER UNSUCCESSFUL IVF TREATMENT

Objective. To describe quality of life in men and women who had terminated in vitro fertilization (IVF) within the public health system 4–5.5 years previously, and for whom treatment did not result in childbirth. Design. Cross‐sectional study. Setting. Reproductive Unit, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden. Sample. Four hundred pairs were invited to participate, 71% accepted and 68% completed questionnaires. Methods. Questionnaire study. Study subgroups were compared with a control group with children and with each other. Main outcome measure. Psychological General Well‐Being (PGWB), Sense of Coherence (SOC), experience of infertility, demographic–socio‐economic and health characteristics were measured. Results. Surprisingly, 76.7% had or lived together with children; 39.6% had biological children, 34.8% had adopted and 3.7% were parents to both biological and adopted children. No differences were found between the study and the control groups, except in SOC which scored lower in the study group. The study group with children had a higher PGWB index than the 23.3% without children and the controls. SOC scored higher in the subgroup with than those without children. Infertility was still a central issue in the subgroup without children. Conclusion. Despite having undergone unsuccessful IVF within the public health system, more than 75% lived with children 4–5.5 years later. This subgroup had a better quality of life, compared to those without children. Additional IVF treatment may result in increased quality of life.

Effect of a structured follow-up visit to a midwife on women with early miscarriage: a randomized study

Background. Womens grief after miscarriage is substantial and important. Women who experience early miscarriage do not constitute a homogenous group. The aim of this study is to measure whether a structured follow‐up visit to a midwife (group 1) at 21–28 days after early miscarriage could reduce the womens grief, measured using the perinatal grief scale Swedish short version (PGS) after a further 3 months (i.e. 4 months after the miscarriage), compared to a regular follow‐up visit to a midwife (group 2). Methods. We performed an open randomized study of women who experienced early miscarriage (n = 88). The midwifes attitude in group 1 came from Swanson science theory of midwifery. In group 2, the women were offered only the ordinary type of consultation at a regular visit. A questionnaire with the PGS was used in both groups. Four months after the miscarriage, a second questionnaire with the same perinatal grief scale was sent by post. Results. There was a 30% greater reduction in grief in group 1 than that in group 2, when comparing the first and second measurements (not significant). The biggest differences were in the subscales active grief and difficulty in coping. Women with the subdiagnosis missed abortions had, as a group, significantly higher PGS scores at both visits, especially in active grief and difficulty in coping, regardless of the type of follow‐up visit. Conclusions. A structured follow‐up visit did not, in comparison with a regular follow‐up visit, imply any significant reduction in grief as measured using the PGS scale. However, the subgroup missed abortion had more extensive grief than the other women with miscarriage. Structured follow‐up visits are not imperative for all women with early miscarriage.

Gender perspective on quality of life, comparisons between groups 4–5.5 years after unsuccessful or successful IVF treatment

Objective. To describe and compare quality of life in men and women who had in vitro fertilization (IVF) within the Swedish public health system 4–5.5 years previously, either unsuccessfully and were subsequently living without children, or successfully, having children aged 4–5.5 years. These groups were compared to a control group of men and women with children born at the same time as in the successful group. Design. Cross‐sectional study. Setting. Reproductive Unit, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden. Sample. Twenty‐six men and 37 women in the unsuccessful group, 135 men and 154 women in the successful group and 93 men and 118 women in the control group. Methods. Questionnaire study. The respective gender differences were studied in the control and study groups. Main outcome measures. Psychological general well‐being (PGWB), sense of coherence (SOC), experience of infertility, demographic‐socio‐economic, and health characteristics. Results. Men in the unsuccessful IVF group scored lower in total PGWB and SOC indices than the successful group men. They reported more depression, lower PGWB and lower SOC than the control group men. Women in the unsuccessful IVF group reported more anxiety, depression, and lower SOC than the successful group women and more depression and lower SOC indices than control group women. Men and women in the unsuccessful IVF group did not differ in any of the parameters. Men in the successful IVF group had higher PGWB, less signs of depression and more self‐confidence than women in that group. Conclusion. Quality of life in men seems more negatively affected by involuntary infertility than reported in earlier studies.

Confronting the Inevitable: A Conceptual Model of Miscarriage for Use in Clinical Practice and Research

In spite of scientific evidence that miscarriage has negative psychological consequences for many individuals and couples, silence and dismissal continue to surround this invisible loss in North American culture and beyond. The grief and sorrow of miscarriage has important implications for clinical practice. It indicates a need for therapeutic interventions delivered in a caring, compassionate, and culturally sensitive manner. This research, based on data from 3 phenomenological investigations conducted with 42 women from diverse geographical locations, sexual orientations, and cultural backgrounds offers a theoretical framework for addressing miscarriage in clinical practice and research.

Cumulative incidence of previous spontaneous abortion in Sweden in 1983–2003: a register study

Aim. The aim of this study is to find out how common miscarriages are among women who have delivered a child.

Meta-analysis to obtain a scale of psychological reaction after perinatal loss : focus on miscarriage

Pregnancy has different meanings to different women depending upon their circumstances. A number of qualitative studies have described the experience of miscarriage by women who had desired to carry their pregnancy to full term. The aim of this meta-analysis was to identify a scale of psychological reaction to miscarriage. Meta-analysis is a quantitative approach for reviewing articles from scientific journals through statistical analysis of findings from individual studies. In this review, a meta-analytic method was used to identify and analyze psychological reactions in women who have suffered a miscarriage. Different reactions to stress associated with the period following miscarriage were identified. The depression reaction had the highest average, weighted, unbiased estimate of effect (d+ = 0.99) and was frequently associated with the experience of perinatal loss. Psychiatric morbidity was found after miscarriage in 27% of cases by a diagnostic interview ten days after miscarriage. The grief reaction had a medium d+ of 0.56 in the studies included. However, grief after miscarriage differed from other types of grief after perinatal loss because the parents had no focus for their grief. The guilt is greater after miscarriage than after other types of perinatal loss. Measurement of the stress reaction and anxiety reaction seems to be difficult in the included studies, as evidenced by a low d+ (0.17 and 0.16, respectively). It has been recommended that grief after perinatal loss be measured by an adapted instrument called the Perinatal Grief Scale Short Version.

Applying Heidegger’s interpretive phenomenology to women’s miscarriage experience

Much has been written about measuring the feelings and impressions of women regarding their experience of miscarriage. According to the existential philosopher Heidegger life experiences such as the experience of a woman having a miscarriage can be interpreted and explained only in the context of the totality of the women’s experiences in the past, the present, and the future. Thirteen in-depth interviews with women about their experiences of miscarriage were interpreted with respect to Heidegger’s “Being and Time”. By using his interpretive phenomenology the essence of the miscarriage experience was explored and defined. The women’s feelings and impressions were influenced by past experiences of miscarriage, pregnancy, and births. Present conditions in the women’s lives contributing to the experience include their relationships, working situation, and living conditions. Each woman’s future prospects and hopes have been structurally altered with regard to their aspirations for their terminated pregnancy. The impact of miscarriage in a woman’s life was found to be more important than caregiver providers and society have previously attributed to in terms of scale. The results of the interviews reveal that the women believed that only women who had experienced their own miscarriages were able to fully understand this complex womanly experience and its effects on the woman who had miscarried.

How women who have experienced one or more miscarriages manage their feelings and emotions when they become pregnant again - a qualitative interview study.

AIM The aim of this study was to investigate how women who have experienced one or more miscarriages manage their feelings when they become pregnant again. METHOD Individual qualitative interviews were conducted with 16 women who were pregnant again after experiencing one or more miscarriages. The interviews were analysed using qualitative content analysis with an inductive approach. RESULTS The analysis of the material ended up in five categories: distancing herself from her pregnancy, focusing on her pregnancy symptoms, searching for confirming information, asking for ultrasound examination and asking for professional and social support. Because of their past experience with miscarriage, it could be painful to have another pregnancy terminate in disappointment. Therefore, the women manage their feelings by distancing themselves from their pregnancies. Simultaneously, they are managing their emotions by seeking affirmation that their current pregnancy is normal. CONCLUSION Generally speaking, women manage their emotions by themselves. They feel isolated with their worries and concerns, and they are in need of the support provided from their intimate circle of friends and family as well as from the staff of the maternity health care ward. Unfortunately, the women do not feel that they get the support they need from the staff, instead they have to rely on their friends, family and partners to help them manage their emotions.

Applicability of general grief theory to Swedish women's experience after early miscarriage, with factor analysis of Bonanno's taxonomy, using the Perinatal Grief Scale

Abstract Background. Grief is a normal phenomenon but showing great variation depending on cultural and personal features. Bonanno and Kaltman have nonetheless proposed five aspects of normal grief. The aim of this study was to investigate if women with miscarriage experience normal grief. Material and methods. Content analyses of 25 transcribed conversations with women 4 weeks after their early miscarriages were classified depending on the meaning-bearing units according to Bonanno and Kaltmans categories. In the factor analyses, these categories were compared with the Perinatal Grief Scale and womens age, number of children and number of miscarriages, and gestational weeks. Results. Women with miscarriage fulfill the criteria for having normal grief according to Bonanno and Kaltman. All of the 25 women had meaning-bearing units that were classified as cognitive disorganization, dysphoria, and health deficits, whereas disrupted social and occupational functioning and positive aspects of bereavement were represented in 22 of 25 women. From the factor analysis, there are no differences in the expression of the intensity of the grief, irrespective of whether or not the women were primiparous, younger, or had suffered a first miscarriage. Conclusion. Womens experience of grief after miscarriage is similar to general grief after death. After her loss, the woman must have the possibility of expressing and working through her grief before she can finish her pregnancy emotionally. The care-giver must facilitate this process and accept that the intensity of the grief is not dependent on the womans age, or her number of earlier miscarriages.