Grief and post-traumatic reaction in the women received non-selective termination
Date Issued
2007
Date
2007
Author(s)
Tsai, Shu-Hui
DOI
zh-TW
Abstract
Women expect to carry a normal fetus during the pregnancy. However, the occurrence of stillbirth or fetal abnormalities is a sudden and shocked event, which put the pregnant woman received non-selective termination into grief and impact. The purpose of this study was to explore grief and post-traumatic reaction in the women who received non-selective termination and to identify the related factors.
With purposive sampling at a private medical center in Taipei, a questionnaire was used to collect data from 90 women who experienced non-selective termination due to stillbirth or fetal abnormalities within four years. The method to carry out this study was using a structural formula questionnaire, which included Perinatal Grief Scale (PGS) and Impact of Event Scale (IES) to which the women were expected to respond face to face or mail the questionnaire. Data was analyzed with SPSS 13.0 statistical software package. Descriptive statistics, t-test, one-way ANOVA, simple regression, and multiple regression were completed.
The results about grief revealed that the obtained scores were 80.20±25.82, which suggested that these women had moderate degree of grief. The subscales scored highest by “active grief”, followed by “despair” and “difficulty coping” with scores of 31.50±10.29, 24.56±9.44, and 24.19±8.46, respectively. The related factors were religious belief, the kind of fetal death, and children count. In addition, the results about post-traumatic reaction revealed that the obtained scores were 26.70±14.21, which suggested that these women had severe degree of post-traumatic reaction. 60.20% of these women scored greater than 19 (severe degree of post-traumatic reaction). The subscales scored highest by “intrusion”, followed by “avoidance” with scores of 14.99±8.52, and 11.68±7.46, respectively. The related factors were religious belief, the kind of fetal death, children count, the degree of self-grief, the degree of grief, and the degree of self-grief being recognized.
In conclusion, the women received non-selective termination had moderate degree of grief and severe degree of post-traumatic reaction. The results of this study can assist nurses to identify the post-traumatic reaction at the early stage and efficiently help women on mental rehabilitation. Furthermore, the health authority may utilize this study as their reference when comes to the decision of governmental policy in attempting to promote a more advance health care system.
Subjects
非選擇性終止妊娠
哀傷
創傷後反應
死產
胎兒異常
non-selective termination
grief
post-traumatic reaction
stillbirth
fetal abnormality
Type
other