Care and management of stillborn babies from the parents’ perspective: A phenomenological study

Abstract

Aim To explore parents’ perspective on hospital's care and management of the remains of stillborn babies. Background Each year, 2.6 million of pregnancies end as stillbirth. Recent literature began to understand parents’ traumatic experience in stillbirth and its profound impact on parents’ mental health and psychosocial effect. But there is limited understanding on the actual care and management of the stillborn baby, nor is there an agreement on how hospitals should care for the stillborn baby to mitigate parents’ profound loss. Design A descriptive phenomenological approach was applied to conduct this study. Methods A purposive sample of twenty couples (40 individuals) who had encountered how to care for the remains of their stillborn babies participated in the study. The data were collected through in‐depth interviews, which involved semi‐structured and open‐ended questions. The phenomenological methods of Giorgi were applied to analyse the data. The COREQ checklist was used preparing the manuscript. Results Parents felt unprepared and lack of support when they had to handle their stillborn babies’ remains. The research results revealed two major themes: (1) Handling stillborn babies remain ignorantly; (2) Pacifying the disturbed soul on both sides. Conclusions It was found in the study that reflection and identification were the emerging themes, which can enable healthcare professionals to understand parents’ concerns in a meaningful way, as they deal with the remains of stillborn babies. Moreover, it is hoped that hospital administration and health care personnel should consider stillborn parents’ concerns and incorporate their needs into nursing assessment and treatment practices. Relevance to clinical practice Given stillbirth's profound implication for parents’ identity and psychosocial role, hospitals need to be more sensitive and proactive to parents’ cultural and religious needs when they care for stillborn baby and handle its body.

Examining characteristics of descriptive phenomenological nursing studies: A scoping review

“…Out of 103 studies, 81 (79%) studies explicitly mentioned using a ‘descriptive phenomenological’ research design or approach. Four studies reported a generic phenomenological research design but used a descriptive phenomenological data analysis technique (Ghorbani et al, 2021; HeydariKhayat et al, 2021; Luo et al, 2021; Sun et al, 2021). Ten studies reported being a descriptive, qualitative, or descriptive qualitative study ‘with’ or ‘grounded in’ a phenomenological approach.…”

Perinatal Bereavement in Racially, Culturally, and Gender Diverse Families

“…The simple act of asking questions about cultural preferences and needs may prevent unnecessary distress and feelings of discomfort among families. Common practices, such as creating mementoes after a baby has died, including activities such as taking footprints, photographs, and locks of hair, may be comforting for one family but may be considered a desecration of the body for others, such as members of the Muslim or Taiwanese/Buddhist faith, and may cause great distress (Arshad et al, 2004;Sun et al, 2022). families who experience perinatal loss, it is important to provide person-centered, sensitive bereavement care that starts with assessment of the family's cultural traditions and rituals, beliefs about death, expression of grief, and family roles in coping (Martin, 2009).…”

“…The simple act of asking questions about cultural preferences and needs may prevent unnecessary distress and feelings of discomfort among families. Common practices, such as creating mementoes after a baby has died, including activities such as taking footprints, photographs, and locks of hair, may be comforting for one family but may be considered a desecration of the body for others, such as members of the Muslim or Taiwanese/Buddhist faith, and may cause great distress (Arshad et al, 2004; Sun et al, 2022).…”

“…Some families may have cultural beliefs about grief and mourning that may not align with more traditional Western approaches (Alaradi et al, 2022). Therefore, it is important for nurses and other health care providers to understand the needs of diverse individuals and families when providing bereavement care services so they can best serve and support them (Sun et al, 2022).…”