Miscarriage: A Qualitative Study

Kristen Swanson obtained her earned her bachelor’s degree in nursing from University of Rhode Island in 1975; her masters in adult health and illness from the University of Pennsylvania in 1978; and her PhD in psycho-social nursing from the University of Colorado. Through her education, Swanson was an educator at the University of Washington, where she completed her post-doctoral studies. She had research interest in miscarriage and pregnancy loss. She also taught at Trenton State College, University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing and University of Colorado School of Nursing.

According to the Oxford dictionary, "abortion is the expulsion of a fetus from the uterus by natural causes before it is able to survive independently." Abortion has perhaps been a highly politicized over the past several decades. The major political parties in the United States have adopted distinct positions on this issue. When the death a fetus occurs naturally, it is called a miscarriage. When the loss of a fetus is caused intentionally, it is regarded as a significant moral and societal issue that needs to be dealt with. An article on washingtonpost.com stated that, "studies show that there is an imbalance between the number of firearms-related deaths 30,000 a year and abortions performed each year in the United States more than 750,000 a year." This shows that more death occur from abortions that firearms. To better picture what an abortion is, the mental image of a baby covered in blood placed in a basin and chopped into about fifty pieces. This will help understand how cruel and wicked abortion is. I intend to argue that abortion is morally, logically, and religiously wrong. Unless murder becomes legal, abortion should remain illegal.

Summary: This article describes how emotionally and physically challenging stillbirth can be to its victims. Stillbirth which is “the birth of an infant that has died in the womb after having survived through at least the first 28 weeks of pregnancy”, is not only challenging for the mother of the baby, but it affects the whole family as well. Per to this article, stillbirth affects about 1 in 200 pregnancy and that’s in the U.S only, because

Sharon Salzberg once said, “As we look around, it's very clear that in this world people do outrageous things to one another all of the time. It's not that these qualities or actions make us bad people, but they bring tremendous suffering if we don't know how to work with them”. The wake of devastation abortion leaves behind could not be described better. It is argued that it is the woman’s body; therefore it is the woman’s choice. What many do not know, however, is that abortion not only affects the mother, but the father, and of course the child. Guilt, anger, anxiety, depression, broken relationships, “numbing”, and even suicide; all of these are symptoms of Post-Abortion Syndrome (PAS). PAS is the emotional/psychological damage women may experience after having an abortion. According to Dangers of Legal Abortion by Ann Saltenberger, women who have had abortions are nine times more likely to attempt suicide than women in the general population. Men, or the father, portray a range of emotions after their partner’s abortion. These include grief, guilt,

One of the reasons our particular volunteering will be relevant to nursing is that we will be helping to spread information about pregnancy to those who might be unaware of the opportunities and possibilities available to them. Through this volunteering, we are helping to educate soon-to-be mothers on ways that they can avoid an abortion – saving the child’s life and comforting the mother during an emotionally stressful time. As nurses, we will

It’s understood that the shock of not knowing who you could have raised and loved is devastating, a reason why certain hospitals will give the parents an option to spend time with the deceased child in an attempt at offering closure. Additionally, for some people it's not only the loss of the child they are grieving for, but the hopes and dreams they had for it. This type of loss has similar shocking effects to those who have had a miscarriage. Both miscarriages and fetal deaths can affect the

The effects that impact on anyone that has ever had a miscarriage, is dramatic and as well dealing with the emotional and psychological effects it causes. Not only for a short period of time that this will go on, but it can last all the way till the next time to try to conceive again or for the rest of a women’s life if they never conceive. A woman can develop anxiety from it and the fear of never being able to ever have a baby of her own has a big impact on her relationship with her spouse and friends that have kids of their own. It is not easy going to baby shower after baby shower seeing all the other children walking around and seeing your best friend carrying her first at nine months pregnant. As we all grow up and move on other relationships,

Raising awareness of the general public about miscarriage and its debilitating effects and how to approach miscarriage as a disability through the use of public awareness ads, brochures, or direct mails that will attract people’s attention. Ads that will actually make them want to give the issue a thought, encourage them to act and advocate against the discrimination and deemphasizing of the effects of miscarriage to a woman. Structuring the ads in a way that will defy negative perceptions on miscarriage and that miscarriage may affect an employee differently than any other employee.

This happens a lot more than one would think, 15-20% of known pregnancies end in a miscarriage (Miscarriage Medline), to some this number is comforting to know they are not alone. Almost all miscarriages will happen before the 2nd trimester begins which is at the 14 week mark. Most people going through a miscarriage for the first time want to know why it happened was it something they could have done differently, but there isn 't anything you can do to prevent a miscarriage (Sifferlin Most).

The study interviewed 96 pregnant women, including 22 who have suffered perinatal loss, to measure for different variables including grief and acceptance of pregnancy. The study revealed a major distinction between the women who have suffered perinatal loss in comparison to those who had not. Women who experienced a previous loss, suffered far more psychological distress during their current pregnancy and causes them to have a weak prenatal attachment to their

A loss of a fetus can only be deemed a miscarriage in the UK so long as it has a gestation date of 23 weeks 6 days, within the first two trimesters of a pregnancy. First-trimester miscarriages account for the majority of miscarriages, occurring in the first 12 weeks of gestation. They account for 20% of the overall rate of miscarriages (Stalder, 2012). Although light vaginal bleeding is relatively common during the first trimester of pregnancy, the most obvious way a woman can suspect that she has miscarried is vaginal bleeding followed by cramps/pain in the lower abdomen (NHS, 2015).

Pregnancy is one of the most cherished periods of a woman’s life, but often this joy is very short-lived due to certain complications and at times, due to our own actions. If a woman loses her unborn baby in the very early stages of pregnancy, i.e. within the first 20 weeks, it is termed as a miscarriage. At times, a spontaneous abortion or a miscarriage is caused due to unavoidable reasons such as:

Pregnancy is meant to be an exciting happy time; not only for the mother, but for the whole family and friends. So, when a woman miscarries, the psychological impact/ trauma is unbearable and very devastating. The experience and feeling of loss, grief, guilt, and shame caused by a miscarriage can take a toll on everyone. These feelings can also turn into a major depression in some women and possible questions of what could have I done differently, or feeling like you had a hand it in can start to surface.

Kristen M. Swanson RN, PhD, FAAN derives her Theory of Caring from the works of multiple nursing scholars, combined with empirical evidence and phenomenological investigations, to create a middle-range theory applicable to almost any healthcare setting (Swanson, 1991). The middle-range theory evolved partially due to Dr. Swanson’s doctoral studies under Dr. Jean Watson (Wojnar, 2014, p. 689). Dr. Swanson’s theory contains a perinatal background, initially developed specifically in attempt to explain miscarriage experiences (Wojnar, 2014). By conducting three different studies involving three different perspectives, Dr. Swanson was able to establish and define five concepts, caring processes, critical to her theory (Swanson, 1998). The three perspectives investigated by Dr. Swanson were women who miscarried, NICU caregivers, and at-risk mothers. With each study, her definitions of the five caring processes evolved (Swanson, 1991).

According to London et al. (2014), stillbirth is defined as the “death of a fetus or infant from the time of conception through the end of the newborn period 28 days after birth” (p. 481). In 2011, in the country of Taiwan, there were a total of 2,321 stillborn births and it was reported that 60% of the women who experienced this loss suffered from severe postpartum depression within 4 years (Tseng, Chen, & Wang, 2014, p. 219). Although it is known that the mothers of these infants suffer with traumatic stress, follow-ups after stillbirths are rare and there is no community support groups available. There is not much information available on the experience of Taiwanese women who experience a stillbirth nor is there information about the steps taken by these women to recover from their loss. Thus, this study seeks to understand the experiences of these Taiwanese women who have experienced the loss of an infant and how they cope within their society (Tseng et al., 2014, p. 219).