A PROSPECTIVE-STUDY OF RISK-FACTORS PREDICTING GRIEF INTENSITY FOLLOWING PREGNANCY LOSS

Citation
Hjem. Janssen et al., A PROSPECTIVE-STUDY OF RISK-FACTORS PREDICTING GRIEF INTENSITY FOLLOWING PREGNANCY LOSS, Archives of general psychiatry, 54(1), 1997, pp. 56-61
Citations number
48
Categorie Soggetti
Psychiatry,Psychiatry
ISSN journal
0003990X
Volume
54
Issue
1
Year of publication
1997
Pages
56 - 61
Database
ISI
SICI code
0003-990X(1997)54:1<56:APORPG>2.0.ZU;2-J
Abstract
Background: This prospective longitudinal study investigated which sel ected person-oriented, social environment, demographic, and pregnancy- related risk factors could best predict women's grief intensity follow ing pregnancy loss. Method: In a prospective longitudinal study, 2140 pregnant women within 12 weeks' gestation answered a first questionnai re in writing. Of this sample, 227 women experienced an involuntary pr egnancy loss and were followed up for a period of 18 months, during wh ich grief was reassessed four times, using the Perinatal Grief Scale. The prospectively measured risk factors were hierarchically ordered an d linked to each woman's individual grief response over time. Results: The hypothesized risk factors, with the exception of a prior pregnanc y loss, significantly related to grief intensity following the pregnan cy loss and together explained 35% of the variance in grief scores amo ng subjects. Gestational age, preloss neurotic personality, preloss ps ychiatric symptoms, and family composition showed the strongest relati on to grief intensity following a pregnancy loss. Only psychiatric sym ptoms showed an interaction with time in that the women who evidenced more psychiatric symptoms before the pregnancy loss showed more intens e grief shortly following the pregnancy loss. The other risk factors h ad a constant effect, irrespective of the time that had passed since t he loss. Conclusion: A relatively long preloss pregnancy, a more neuro tic personality, more preloss psychiatric symptoms, and the absence of living children appear to be important risk factors for stronger grie f responses in women following a pregnancy loss.