Neonatal End-of-Life Care in Sweden

OBJECTIVE: To explore Muslim women's views of neonatal end-of-life-care in Sweden. METHODS: Interviews using a standardized questionnaire with open-ended questions about care before birth, directly after birth, and during and after the death of the infant. Content analysis was performed on the data. PARTICIPANTS: Eleven immigrant women of Muslim background living in Sweden. RESULTS: The categories identified were information both useful and threatening, priority of medical facts, maternal feelings, roles of significant others, predetermined lifetime, protection of the dying infant, staff's role, memories aggravate the grief, special tradition, life after death and belief in the future. CONCLUSIONS: The women provided suggestions for improvement of care including being given sufficient information of and the need for culturally sensitive care. In providing care for Muslim women it is imperative that care take into account the woman's religion and ethnicity as well as individual preferences.