Primary healthcare midwives' experiences of caring for parents who have suffered an involuntary pregnancy loss: a phenomenological hermeneutic study

Abstract

Objective: To illuminate the experiences of primary healthcare midwives who care for parents who have suffered an involuntary pregnancy loss.

Design: The phenomenological hermeneutic approach developed by Lindseth and Norberg was used to carry out narrative interviews.

Setting and participants: A purposive sample of 11 public primary healthcare midwives from a municipality in northern Spain, was selected. The participants' ages ranged between 26 and 62 years, and they were all women.

Findings: Four main themes were identified: (1) handling adversity, (2) finding a motive to get involved, (3) providing care from the rear, and (4) avoiding emotional connections with the parents. For the midwives, caring for parents who had suffered an involuntary pregnancy loss meant leaving their own comfort zone and handling adversity. They described acting in different ways such as going beyond task-focused care, following their intuition or avoiding encounters with the parents.

Conclusions: More knowledge and preparation in terms of communication skills and bereavement is crucial for midwives in order to meet the needs of parents who have suffered an involuntary pregnancy loss. A caring organizational culture and supportive leadership will facilitate care continuity between specialized and primary healthcare and promote the welfare of midwives.

Keywords: Caring; Midwifery; Miscarriage; Primary Healthcare; Qualitative Research; Stillbirth.