Bereaved Parent Care

Running Head: BEREAVED PARENT CARE
Bereaved Parent Care
(Author’s Name)
(Institutional Affiliation)

BEREAVED PARENT CARE 2
Introduction
Bereaved parent care forms an indispensable feature of nursing that should be controlled
by the health department as a matter of utmost importance. Perinatal death is an umbrella terms
that encompasses both neonatal and fetal deaths. Reports from a 2018 investigation conducted at
National Perinatal Epidemiology Center focused on deaths from 2016, and demonstrated a
reduction by as much as 15% since 2015 (Mosher 2018). The death of an infant is a thought-
provoking experience for the fathers, mothers, and other family members. Hence, there is a need
to organize care assistance in a manner that provides them necessary support for coping with the
loss (Rådestad et al. 2014). Hand in hand with mourning care are the hospital duties and
accountabilities such as, end of life care facilities that are based on paying respect to the wishes
of the family members and parents (Davidson 2018). This assignment will elaborate on perinatal
bereavement care and the long lasting consequences it creates on the grieving journey of
parents.
Discussion
Perinatal Bereavement Loss from the perspective of a mental health nurse
According to (Pandey 2017), more than 90% of females necessitate post-event care,
nonetheless merely 30% obtains it. Healthcare providers of primary care display lack of
necessary competency and training for addressing issues of mental health that arise after being
subjected to adverse events. In a research conducted by Nynas et al. (2015) females who were
interrogated a month following their miscarriage, displayed momentous levels of unhappiness in
contrast to females who were not pregnant. The effect is consequently dissimilar than the usual
grief course, particularly where the parentages might not have been provided with opportunity to
complete the last rites of the infant (McNally 2011). According to Asplin et al. (2012) women
generally expressed displeasure regarding the care-givers’ approaches of providing necessary
information about fetal malformation. In addition, it was also stated by the researchers that
information about the foetus, prior to and at the time of ultrasound examination acts as an
essential factor in governing the experience of women. Furthermore, it was also stated any
information about fetal malformation acts in the form of traumatic experience to the parents,
which in turn calls for the need of delivering necessary psychological care as an essential social
and medical follow-up.

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According to Nynas et al. (2015), circumstances of being covetous or feeling painful
around pregnant females or kids were reported. Post-traumatic stress disorder signs for grieving
parents were demonstrated in a research by Redshaw et al. (2016).They evaluated the effect of
holding the still born infant and found that some common signs and symptoms included visions
and misapprehensions. Numerous children die due to stillbirth, more than any other reason of
infant death and parents having stillborn children are not subjected to relevant, consistent and
proficient professional care, which helps them to cope with the tragedy of their infant death. The
findings also endorsed the need of perceived spiritual and psychosocial support from caregivers,
friends and family (Cacciatore and Bushfield 2007; Pullen, Goldenand Cacciatore 2012).
Technological advancements used during pregnancy such as, ultrasound sonography
further complement the grief by providing parents with the images that depict the foetus as
something more than the reality (Sommerseth and Sundby 2010). The parentages are able to
decipher the heartbeat and can also see images of the foetus. Manifestation of culpability is also
apparent with the parentages feeling that their spouse or companion is to be blamed for the death
of the child. This issue obscures the grief course. The irritation might result in desertion as both
parents have to strive while dealing with the loss (Pandey 2017).
According to evidences, perinatal deaths are found to happen at a prevalence rate of 9%
for females who are in their 20s. This rate increases to as much as 75% in females who are found
to be in their forties (Buckley 2018). The nursing professionals must be inconsistent contact with
parentages who have experienced death of their child. The reaction to loss differs with some
parentages considering it as an event of their lifespan, while others consider it as an
overwhelming event and get subjected to depression (Lovell 2001). Lacking a guide on proper
ways of communication, nurses often become hesitant and cautious in their replies, which
destructively disturbs the parent’s experience. According to Aldridge (2008) sorrow education
decreases nervousness amongst the nurses.
Facilitators and challenges
Buckman(1992) and Luz et al. (2017) also stated that while adorning the role of
healthcare professionals, breaking any kind of bad news to the parents forms a challenging and
most difficult aspect of the job role. Therefore, it is imperative for the professionals to offer
professional comfort to the parents who have suffered from a miscarriage, have their foetus
diagnosed with some disorder, or have experienced stillbirth. It has also been established that the

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method by which hostile diagnoses such as, choroid plexus cysts are informed to parents needs
immediate improvement. This can be accomplished by providing training and education to health
how to disclose bad news sympathetically to a vulnerable population (Lalor, Devaneand
Begley2007; Larsson, Crang-Svaleniusand Dykes2009).Larsson et al. (2010) also stated that
information about any abnormality originally leads to broken expectations and nervousness.
Hence, such communication must be initiated in a suitable environment, without any delay
(Sully and Dallas 2010).
This has also been confirmed by Cacciatore (2010) who also stated that there is a need to
implement patient-centred psychosocial care for addressing the emotional trauma that parents
having stillborn children have to endure. They also stated that not much emphasis must be placed
on adjustment of care. In contrast, professionals must focus on interpersonal care giving that
underlines the individuality of every one patient, in addition to their family, besides recognizing
their beliefs and culture (Neuberger, Guthrieand Aaronovitch2013). Furthermore, care giving
should also encompass affirmative provider reactions.
The course of sorrow is typically due to the absence of sufficient schooling since the
healthcare staff are not skilled on approaches that they should adopt for dealing with sudden
death or loss of life (Cullen et al. 2017). Menahem (2012) also stated that parents must be
subjected to counselling on detecting abnormalities in the foetus following an ultrasound
investigation, owing to the fact that counselling will help in providing support to the distressed
parents, and the risks and outcomes involved with probable interventions. Furthermore, listening
to the grievances and sorrow of the parents after death of their child forms an essential aspect of
bereavement care (Redshaw, Rowe and Henderson2014).
Furthermore, there is absence of sufficient collected works on the delivery and facilities
of bereavement and mourning care in primary healthcare environment, consequently, decreasing
expert opinion on the difficulty (Nagraj and Barclay 2011). A research by Redshaw et al. (2013)
presented that there were positive approaches and outlooks amid primary care nurses on
effectively delivering bereaved parent care. According to Cacciatore and Flint (2012) it is
imperative to implement a mindfulness-based bereavement care model in such situations. The
care model must focus on ATTEND (attunement, trust, touch, egalitarianism, nuance, and death
education), and has been found effective in moderating the negative impacts of traumatic