Mothers and Fathers Greif Responses Following A Spontaneous Abortion

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine similarities and differences between mothers• and fathers• grief responses following a spontaneous abortion. Subjects, fourteen couples .and three married females who recently experienced a spontaneous abortion, were obtained through announcements in grief support group newsletters and an employee publi,cation of a.universi'ty and a classified advertisement. Data for this retrospective study were collected through mailed questionnaires: a demographic data questionnaire,_ the Hopkins Symptom Checklist and the Impact of Event Scale. Data were analyzed ~sing descriptive statistics, t-tests and Pearson prod·uct moment carrel ati on coefficients .. Mothers scored significantly higher than fathers on the Hopkins Symptom Checklist and on the Intrusiveness subsea 1 e· of the Impact of Event Sea 1 e. There was not a s i gni fi cant difference between mothers •. and fathers • scores on the. Avoidance subscale of the Impact of Event Scale. A positive association was found between mothers with previous pregnancy losses and their scores on the Hopkins Symptom Checklisto This was not true for fatherse Parents who saw ultrasound images of the fetus prior to the spontaneous abortion scored signi_ficantly higher on the Hopkins Symptom Checklist and the Intrusiveness subscale of the Impact of Event Scale. Research findings can be used to modify current practice. Through education about the grief process following a spontaneous abortion, parents, consumers and health care professionals can gain an increas.ed ·awareness of the impact of the event. Further research in this area needs to be directed towards the influence of social class,: ethnic group, marital status, gestational age, and paternal-fetal affiliation on grief responses.