Perinatal loss: problem of experiencing disenfranchised grief

Vol. 34 Iss. 2 pp. 68–75 | St. Petersburg State Institute of Psychology and Social Work | ISSN: 1993-8101
2020 • Issue 2 • Volume 34Research in applied psychology

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Abstract

The article examines the phenomenon of disenfranchised grief that a woman and her family experiencing perinatal loss may face. The experience of losing an unborn child is a traumatic situation, for parents such loss becomes a loss of hopes, dreams, plans for the future. The aim of the research is to study the problem of experiencing disenfranchised grief that a woman who has experienced perinatal loss faces when communicating with her family, friends, medical workers and other people around her.

According to statistics, every fifth Russian family faces reproductive or perinatal losses, statistical monitoring of perinatal losses in the Russian Federation for 2018 (Loss rate is 7.23 per 1000 of population) shows a downward trend in perinatal losses rates compared to2010 (10.7 per 1000 of population), however, this level remains high.

A theoretical review of the research of domestic and foreign scientists is carried out. The categories of ambiguity and disenfranchised grief arising from perinatal loss are given: attitudes towards perinatal loss in society, information about the viability of pregnancy; physical process of pregnancy loss; the possibility of passing the farewell ritual. The factors influencing the emergence of the phenomenon of disenfranchised grief are considered. The moments, attention to which will help specialists, both perinatal psychologists and medical workers, to carry out competent support of perinatal losses are highlighted.

Perinatal loss is a complex consultative problem that has a strong impact on the emotional state of a woman, which imposes special professional requirements on specialists working in this field – both perinatal psychologists and medical workers, – for the proper and competent accompaniment of perinatal losses.

Keywords

perinatal loss, physical loss, symbolic loss, grief, disenfranchised grief, ambiguous loss, experience

Citation

Citation — Harvard Notation

References

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