Health Care Provider Support and Grief after Perinatal Loss: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

This article examines grief after perinatal loss, including factors that may have an impact on the parents' perceptions of support from health care providers after a pregnancy loss. The purpose is to determine whether health care provider support has a positive, or helping, effect on the parents' grief resolution. Data are from questionnaires administered to six men and thirty-four women as well as a focus group of six volunteers from the original set of forty persons experiencing perinatal loss. This article reports on the qualitative data from these interviews and makes recommendations for improving patient care. Quantitative analysis from this study is reported elsewhere.