Predicting Need for Follow-Up Due to Severe Anxiety and Depression Symptoms After Perinatal Loss

Integrative Review of Emotional Care Following Perinatal Loss

“…In addition, a prospective survey by Hutti et al (2018) evaluates the ability of the Perinatal Grief Intensity Scale (PGIS) to predict intense anxiety and severe depressive symptoms in women three months after the perinatal loss. These authors hold that this instrument (PGIS scale), may help health care providers identify women who need further mental health evaluation after perinatal loss (Hutti et al, 2018). Thus, Hutti et al (2018) state that this prompt detection and intervention could prevent or reduce some of the negative effects experienced by families due to the perinatal loss.…”

“…These authors hold that this instrument (PGIS scale), may help health care providers identify women who need further mental health evaluation after perinatal loss (Hutti et al, 2018). Thus, Hutti et al (2018) state that this prompt detection and intervention could prevent or reduce some of the negative effects experienced by families due to the perinatal loss.…”

“…Although WHO defines perinatal loss period as commencing 22 completed weeks of gestation and ending 7 completed days after birth, in practice, and in the literature, this period is extended for some authors until the knowledge of the pregnancy by the women affected including miscarriage and neonatal period (López García de Madinabeitia, 2011). Hutti et al (2015) and Hutti et al (2018) suggested that the intensity of the grief that underlies the loss is not related to the weeks of gestation these women had completed when this took place because, as stated by López García de Madinabeitia (2011), for the parents it is not the weight or the gestational age that transforms a fetus into a child, but the place that it has created in their heart. According to Fenstermacher and Hupcey (2013), “lack of conceptual clarity and lack of a clearly articulated conceptual definition impedes the synthesis and translation of research findings into practice” (p. 2389).…”

“…Suggestions are offered as to how women can best be supported by the medical system, so as to reduce their immediate psychological distress as well as their long-term chances of developing a psychiatric disorder. A growing body of research explores this aspect (Hutti et al, 2015, 2018; McSpedden et al, 2017). According with this key aspect identified in this review, Evans (2012) stated that sensitive, caring, and skilled care for women who suffer a perinatal loss plays an important role in their long-term emotional recuperation.…”

“…However, the main limitation of most examined studies is the impossibility of determining the long-term effect of an intervention and the difficulty of applying the results to the general population due to the various cultural contexts in which the studies have been carried out. Furthermore, other factors that limit the generalization of the results include the fact that the loss is a unique experience, the memory lapses regarding the suffered event, the duration of the interventions, and the lack follow-up of the participants once the study is finished (Camacho-Ávila et al, 2020; Hutti et al, 2018; Johnson & Langford, 2015). Although not considered in this article review, other aspects that could be further examined are the relevance of empathic communication and its relationship as a grief accompaniment technique, the use of palliative treatment centered on the babies to be born, therapeutic silence as part of the emotional care, and learn how to face grief as health professionals to be able to treat and accompany the other grievers through support.…”