GRIEF FOLLOWING THE LOSS OF A NEWBORN TWIN COMPARED TO A SINGLETON

This study, involving five level III neonatal intensive care units, in vestigated whether there are any differences between parental grief fo llowing the death of a newborn twin and parental grief following the d eath of a newborn singleton. A total of 142 parents were examined usin g the Perinatal Grief Scale (PGS): 72 who had lost a newborn twin and 70 matched controls who had lost a newborn singleton 0.5-3.5 years pre viously. We found that bereaved twin parents did not differ in grief r eactions from bereaved singleton parents (PGS: F = 0.00, p = 0.962). T his held true both for the short and the long term (F = 0.13, p = 0.72 1). Mothers showed more grief than fathers (F = 8.16, p = 0.005). In c onclusion, grief in bereaved twin parents should be taken as seriously as grief in bereaved singleton parents. The present guidelines regard ing care for the latter ought to be adapted to meet the needs of the f ormer.