Tools
Tools
Silverio, SA, Easter, A, Storey, C, Jurković, D and Sandall, J (2021) Preliminary findings on the experiences of care for parents who suffered perinatal bereavement during the COVID-19 pandemic. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, 21 (1). ISSN 1471-2393
|
Text
Preliminary findings on the experiences of care for parents who suffered perinatal bereavement during the COVID-19 pandemic.pdf - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (1MB) | Preview |
Abstract
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic poses an unprecedented risk to the global population. Maternity care in the UK was subject to many iterations of guidance on how best to reconfigure services to keep women, their families and babies, and healthcare professionals safe. Parents who experience a pregnancy loss or perinatal death require particular care and support. PUDDLES is an international collaboration investigating the experiences of recently bereaved parents who suffered a late miscarriage, stillbirth, or neonatal death during the global COVID-19 pandemic, in seven countries. In this study, we aim to present early findings from qualitative work undertaken with recently bereaved parents in the United Kingdom about how access to healthcare and support services was negotiated during the pandemic. Methods: In-depth semi-structured interviews were undertaken with parents (N = 24) who had suffered a late miscarriage (n = 5; all mothers), stillbirth (n = 16; 13 mothers, 1 father, 1 joint interview involving both parents), or neonatal death (n = 3; all mothers). Data were analysed using a template analysis with the aim of investigating bereaved parents’ access to services, care, and networks of support, during the pandemic after their bereavement. Results: All parents had experience of utilising reconfigured maternity and/or neonatal, and bereavement care services during the pandemic. The themes utilised in the template analysis were: 1) The Shock & Confusion Associated with Necessary Restrictions to Daily Life; 2) Fragmented Care and Far Away Families; 3) Keeping Safe by Staying Away; and 4) Impersonal Care and Support Through a Screen. Results suggest access to maternity, neonatal, and bereavement care services were all significantly reduced, and parents’ experiences were notably affected by service reconfigurations. Conclusions: Our findings, whilst preliminary, are important to document now, to help inform care and service provision as the pandemic continues and to provide learning for ongoing and future health system shocks. We draw conclusions on how to enable development of safe and appropriate services during this pandemic and any future health crises, to best support parents who experience a pregnancy loss or whose babies die.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | PUDDLES Global Collaboration; Humans; Abortion, Spontaneous; Bereavement; Grief; Parents; Quarantine; Pregnancy; Qualitative Research; Infant, Newborn; Continuity of Patient Care; Health Services Accessibility; Female; Male; Stillbirth; Perinatal Death; United Kingdom; Psychosocial Support Systems; Preliminary Data; COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; COVID-19; Maternity care; Miscarriage; Neonatal death; Perinatal death; Pregnancy loss; Service reconfiguration; Stillbirth; Abortion, Spontaneous; Bereavement; COVID-19; Continuity of Patient Care; Female; Grief; Health Services Accessibility; Humans; Infant, Newborn; Male; Parents; Perinatal Death; Pregnancy; Preliminary Data; Psychosocial Support Systems; Qualitative Research; Quarantine; SARS-CoV-2; Stillbirth; United Kingdom; 1110 Nursing; 1114 Paediatrics and Reproductive Medicine; 1117 Public Health and Health Services; Obstetrics & Reproductive Medicine |
| Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine R Medicine > RG Gynecology and obstetrics |
| Divisions: | Psychology (from Sep 2019) |
| Publisher: | BMC |
| SWORD Depositor: | A Symplectic |
| Date Deposited: | 06 Dec 2022 11:35 |
| Last Modified: | 06 Dec 2022 11:35 |
| DOI or ID number: | 10.1186/s12884-021-04292-5 |
| URI: | https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/18299 |
 |
View Item |