Seeing or not seeing: Taiwan's parents’ experiences during stillbirth

Sun, Jui Chiung; Rei, Wenmay; Sheu, Shuh Jen

doi:10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2013.11.009

Cited by 23 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…The characteristics of the included studies are described in Table . Five studies were conducted in Sweden , five in the United States , three in Australia , two in the United Kingdom , and single studies in South Africa , Taiwan , Norway , Canada , and Japan . Time elapsed since the stillbirth varied widely both across and within studies, from 1 month to 22 years.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Study participants were either mothers (nine studies) or fathers (five studies) of stillborn babies. Six studies included both parents . No studies were located that investigated the experiences of grandparents or siblings.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some parents regretted specific actions that they had not taken, such as not “exploring” the baby , and some parents felt that the amount of time spent with the baby was never enough . Mothers who chose not to see their babies often did so to avoid unwanted or distressing emotions, fearing that seeing their babies would increase feelings of guilt over the loss .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Provision of Meaningful Care at Diagnosis, Birth, and after Stillbirth: A Qualitative Synthesis of Parents' Experiences

Lisy

Peters

Riitano

et al. 2016

Birth

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Provision of Meaningful Care at Diagnosis, Birth, and after Stillbirth: A Qualitative Synthesis of Parents' Experiences

Lisy

Peters

Riitano

et al. 2016

Birth

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“…Another study conducted in Java showed that all those who participated in the rituals and ceremonies, including for stillborn children, allowed family members to manage the grief process so that they eventually reach a state of emotional detachment [32]. Taiwanese folklore has many representations of stillbirth and in accordance with their cultural taboos, the parents were encouraged not to see, handle, name or baptize their stillborn child [33].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In Taiwan, most people would follow the traditional religious customs and social taboos. Rituals like, worshipping the ancestors and having faith in spirits, are few customs which are accepted by the public [30,33,34]. Parents who choose not to look at their dead baby and touch their remains, helps them to handle their sorrow and guilt of losing the baby implicitly, with a reason which is acceptable to the public, as they followed the cultural taboos.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Care and disposal of the remains of stillborn babies from the parents’ perspective in Taiwan: A phenomenological study

Sun

Rei

Chang

et al. 2020

Preprint

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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 little understanding on the actual care and disposal of the stillborn baby, nor is there an agreement on how hospitals should care for the stillborn baby to mitigate parents’ profound loss. The purpose of this study is to understand parents’ perspective on hospital’s care for their stillborn babies, hoping to make suggestions on how can hospitals improve their care to mitigate parents’ grieves. Methods A descriptive phenomenological approach was adopted and twenty couples (40 individuals) who had to decide 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 analyze the data. 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. 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. 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.

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