Experience of Perinatal Death From the Father’s Perspective

Abstract

Background Although perinatal deaths are still a common pregnancy outcome in developing countries, little is known about the effect perinatal death has on fathers. Objective The aim of the study was to understand and describe the meaning of perinatal death in a sample of fathers from northeastern Colombia. Methods Using purposive and snowball sampling approaches, we identified 15 participants from northeastern Colombia who agreed to participate. We used a descriptive phenomenological design. Data were collected through in-depth, semistructured interviews. Results Men suffer in solitude and hide their emotions as they feel the need to be the main supporters of their partners. Three major themes emerged: experience of loss, coming to terms with an irreparable loss, and overcoming the loss. Discussion While women are receiving care, health staff may neglect or forget men. Men suffer alone while seeking ways of attunement with their partners’ emotions to support them during the grieving process. Fathers can overcome and adjust to the loss when they transcend it and find new meaning. Men felt neglected and marginalized at hospitals while their partners were receiving treatment. Health professionals should recognize and acknowledge the pain of fathers who face perinatal death and include them as much as possible in the standard of care. The results identify opportunities for healthcare providers in clinical and outpatient settings to acknowledge the importance of men within the context of pregnancy and to learn about their pain and suffering when they face a perinatal death.

Impact of Perinatal Death on the Social and Family Context of the Parents

“…The results of this study suggest the need to reinterpret the role of the father, which is traditionally relegated by society and professionals to a secondary role in relation to the children [28]. In line with other studies [45,46], we can see that fathers perceive that their pain is undervalued. However, in this study, mothers also openly acknowledge that fathers fall apart and give up their protective role in order to work through their grief.…”

“…This invisibility of the father's grief may be due to the fact that, when pregnant, the woman has a physical connection to the baby while the father's link is only mental [49,50]. Health professionals and the community ignore and disallow the father´s grieving for PD although it has been shown that PD does have repercussions for fathers [46]. It is necessary to determine the needs of fathers [51,52] and clearly recognize their grief [38,39,47,53].…”

Integrative Review of Emotional Care Following Perinatal Loss

“…The lack of information during the process of the perinatal loss and the resulting health care may increase the pain and anguish of parents (Camacho-Ávila et al, 2020; Lizcano-Pabón et al, 2019). Thus, Camacho-Ávila et al (2020) suggest that the parents who received adequate information during the process of the perinatal loss perceived that they had greater control of the situation.…”

Grief and Bereavement in Parents After the Death of a Child in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

“…While most studies looked at the experience of perinatal death for mothers, two studies have looked at the experience of bereavement in fathers after stillbirth. The first interviewed 15 fathers from northeastern Columbia whose child died either as a stillbirth or before 7 days of age [37]. The authors found that the fathers often suffered alone as they focus on the suffering of their partner.…”

“…The authors did note that the cultural and religious rituals, that had been assumed to help in the grieving process, did not seem to impact the grief of parents after the loss of a child. Multiple other studies described the fact that the cultural rituals actually hindered rather than supplemented the grief and bereavement process in parents [37,47,48].…”