Shared or discordant grief in couples 2-6 years after the death of their premature baby: effects on suffering and posttraumatic growth.

BACKGROUND: The loss of a baby causes severe short- and long-term distress to parents and their marital relationship, but little is known about how this distress is shared between spouses. The authors hypothesized that the grief-related concordance within a couple 2 to 6 years after the loss of a premature baby could be an indicator of shared emotional distress within a couple. OBJECTIVE: The authors investigated the long-term grief experience among couples. METHOD: A group of 44 parents (22 couples) were assessed by questionnaire regarding grief, suffering, posttraumatic growth, and affective symptoms, and semistructured interviews with 6 couples added qualitative information about processes within couples. RESULTS: The extent of grief concordance was found to be related to different patterns of suffering and posttraumatic growth within couples. CONCLUSION: The emotional exchange between partners after the loss of the child appears to be crucial for a process of concordant grief, which in turn is associated with a more synchronous process of individual posttraumatic growth.

Loss of a preterm infant: psychological aspects in parents.

QUESTIONS UNDER STUDY: The unexpected death of a preterm infant is an extremely painful situation for parents. Despite a number of quantitative studies, little is known about parents' inner experience. The aim of this study was to gather more in-depth information about what preoccupies parents in this situation of suffering, thus leading to a deeper understanding of their dealing with the stressful event and enabling more adequate support to be provided by professionals. 10 mothers and 9 fathers, who had lost their extremely premature infant born between 24 and 26 weeks of gestation were invited for a semi-structured interview and retrospectively asked about their emotional, cognitive, physical and social experience at three different points in time (time of hospitalisation, 6 months and 3.5-6.5 years after the loss). The interviews were analysed by method of qualitative context analysis. RESULTS: The loss of a preterm infant is an extremely intense experience for parents resulting in a rollercoaster of emotions and perceptions as well as relevant effects on the social network. The strain of this situation notwithstanding, parents also experience positive aspects, eg, feelings of closeness to their infant, comforting thoughts or help from their social network. Although still mourning the loss of their baby, most parents have overcome the tragic event. CONCLUSIONS: Most parents seem to have the psychological strength to overcome the traumatic experience of losing their premature infant and are able to face life normally again. Professionals can play an important role in supporting them. Some parents require additional help to overcome the loss.