Perinatal loss and parental bereavement

The authors studied 25 middle-class pregnant women and their husbands who had experienced perinatal losses (16 miscarriages, seven stillbirths, and two neonatal deaths) within the previous 2 years. The Perinatal Bereavement Scale was designed to determine whether parents who have experienced a late perinatal loss (stillbirth or neonatal death) display more unresolved grief during a subsequent pregnancy and during the postnatal period than parents who have experienced a miscarriage. A three-factor repeated measures analysis of variance indicated significantly greater grief for the late-loss group, for the mothers, and during the pregnancy preceding the birth of the viable child.