GESTATIONAL LOSS: EMOTIONAL AND LEGAL ASPECTS
Main Article Content
Abstract
This study attempts to verify the conditions of mothers who have gone through gestational loss. It is designed according to semi-structured interviews of affected mothers. Through semi-structured recorded interviews, directed questions were asked to ascertain perceptions that they were living through at that moment, about their adaptation to daily life, and about their mourning process and the quality of their professional activities. From the interviews, eight categorizations were created: symptoms of mourning; the time to return to work and daily routines; lack of societal recognition of mourning; mourning and spirituality; seeking of healthcare support; the fathers’ pain; the need of someone; who is this baby? And the following feelings were documented from the interviews: feelings of losing control of one’s life; broken dreams; feelings of incompleteness, guilt, and personal defeat; feelings of inferiority as a woman; subjective losses; losses in identity and eroticism; a woman’s role in society. Lastly, the study examines how gestational loss is unrecognized and unsupported by legislation, exposing a weakness in workers’ rights and unequal treatment regarding gender.
Downloads
Article Details
Issue
Section

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
How to Cite
References
Aguiar, H., & Zornig, S. (2016). Fetal grief: interruption of a promise. Estilos da Clínica, 21(2),264-81. http//dx.doi.org/0.11606/issn.1981-1624.v21i2p264-281.
Brownlee, K., & Oikonen, J. (2004). Toward a theoretical framework for perinatal bereavement. British Journal of Social Work, 34(4), 517-529. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bch063.
Callister L. C. (2006). Perinatal loss: a family perspective. The Journal of Perinatal & Neonatal Nursing, 20(3), 227-236. https://doi.org/10.1097/00005237-200607000-00009.
Cardoso, B. B., Vieira, F. M. S. B., & Saraceni, V. (2020). Abortion in Brazil: what do the official data say?. Cadernos de Saúde Pública, 36(Suppl 1), e00188718. https://doi.org/10.1590/01002-311x00188718.
Conway, K., & Russell, G. (2000). Couples’ grief and experience of support in the aftermath of miscarriage. The British journal of medical psychology, 73 Pt 4, 531-545. https://doi.org/10.1348/000711200160714.
Dahdah, D. F., Bombarda, T. B., Frizzo, H. C. F., & Joaquim R. H. V. T. (2019). Systematic review about bereavement and occupational therapy. Cadernos Brasileiros de Terapia Ocupacional, 27(1), 186-196. https://doi.org/10.4322/2526-8910.ctoar1079.
Defey, D., Diaz Rossello, J. L., Friedler, R., Nuñez, M., & Terra, C. (1992). Duelo por un niño que muere antes de nacer. In Duelo por un niño que muere antes de nacer (pp. 157-157).
Frøen, J. F., Friberg, I. K., Lawn, J. E., Bhutta, Z. A., Pattinson, R. C., Allanson, E. R. … & Lancet Ending Preventable Stillbirths Series study group (2016). Stillbirths: progress and unfinished business. Lancet (London, England), 387(10018), 574-586. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(15)00818-1.
Gaudet, C. (2010). Pregnancy after perinatal loss: association of grief, anxiety and attachment. Journal of Reproductive & Infant Psychology, 28(3), 240-251. https://doi.org/10.1080/02646830903487342.
Heazell, A., Siassakos, D., Blencowe, H., Burden, C., Bhutta, Z. A., Cacciatore, J., … & Lancet Ending Preventable Stillbirths investigator group (2016). Stillbirths: economic and psychosocial consequences. Lancet (London, England), 387(10018), 604-616. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(15)00836-3.
Homer, C., Malata, A., & Ten Hoope-Bender, P. (2016). Supporting women, families, and care providers after stillbirths. Lancet (London, England), 387(10018), 516-517. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(15)01278-7.
Horton, R., & Samarasekera, U. (2016). Stillbirths: ending an epidemic of grief. Lancet (London, England), 387(10018), 515-516. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(15)01276-3.
Jenkins, M., & Heustis, J. (2005). Companioning at a time of perinatal loss: a guide for nurses, physicians, social workers, chaplains and other bedside caregivers. Fort Collins: Companion Press.
Kavanaugh, K., & Wheeler, S. R. (2003). When a baby dies: caring for bereaved families. In C. Kenner, J. W. Lott (Eds.), Comprehensive neonatal nursing: a physiologic perspective (pp. 108-126). Philadelphia: WB Saunders.
McCreight, B. (2004). A grief ignored: narratives of pregnancy loss from a male perspective. Sociology of Health & Illness, 26(3), 326-350. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9566.2004.00393.x.
Nazaré, B., Fonseca, A. L. M., & Canavarro, M. C. (2013). Adaptive and maladaptive grief responses following TOPFA: actor and partner effects of coping strategies. Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology, 31(3), 257-273. https://doi.org/10.1080/02646838.2013.806789.
Nazaré, B., Fonseca, A., & Canavarro, M. C. (2012). Grief following termination of pregnancy for fetal abnormality: does marital intimacy foster short-term couple congruence? Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology, 30(2), 168-179. https://doi.org/10.1080/02646838.2012.693154.
Neale, J. (2016). Iterative categorization (IC): a systematic technique for analysing qualitative data. Addiction, 111(6), 1096-1106. https://doi.org/10.1111/add.13314.
Public Health Agency of Canada. (2000). Family-centred maternity and newborn care: national guidelines. Ottawa: PHAC.
Romesín, H. M., & Verden-Zöller, G. (2012). The origin of humanness in the biology of love. Exeter: Pille Bunnell.
Soubieux, M. J. (2014). Le deuil périnatal, un impensable à penser. Le Carnet PSY, 185(9), 22-24. https://doi.org/10.3917/lcp.185.0022.
Stirtzinger, R. M., Robinson, G. E., Stewart, D. E., & Ralevski, E. (1999). Parameters of grieving in spontaneous abortion. The International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine, 29(2), 235-249.https://doi.org/10.2190/UDW4-2EAG-1RTY-D1Y4.
Stroebe, M., Schut, H. (1999). The dual process model of coping with bereavement: rationale and description. Death studies, 23(3), 197-224. https://doi.org/10.1080/074811899201046.
Williams, H. M., Topping, A., Coomarasamy, A., & Jones, L. L. (2020). Men and miscarriage: a systematic review and thematic synthesis. Qualitative Health Research, 30(1), 133-145. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732319870270.
Worden, J. W. (2008). Grief counseling and grief therapy: a handbook for the mental health practioner. 4a ed. New York, NY: Springer.