Healthcare professionals' psychological involvement in perinatal loss is a largely overlooked subject by healthcare systems, scientific research and prevention policies. A systematic scientific review has been carried out about emotional experiences, attributed meanings and needs conveyed by healthcare professionals in relation to perinatal loss. We identified 213 studies between 1985 and 2015, 20 of which were included in the present study for qualitative analysis. Our results point out the need for a targeted vocational training in perinatal loss, enabling healthcare professionals to achieve a proper management of their own internal states.

Perinatal loss has a strong emotional impact on health professionals working in maternity units. We aimed to study the impact of this experience on health professionals' language. We analyzed the answers of 162 health professionals (physicians and non-medical staff) who described their reactions to perinatal loss. A linguistic analysis was performed using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count software. Associations between language and burnout were studied. Words typical of a psychological shock reaction were used more by non-medical staff than by physicians. Participants who used pronouns, optimistic words, future tense verbs, and cognitive words registered lower levels of burnout. Clinical implications of the results are discussed.

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