A. Lundqvist et T. Nilstun, Neonatal death and parents' grief - Experience, behaviour and attitudes ofSwedish nurses, SC J CAR SC, 12(4), 1998, pp. 246-250
The aim of the present study was to survey the experience, behaviour and at
titudes of nurses in Swedish neonatal wards towards parents who refuse or a
re reluctant to see. touch or hold their dying or dead baby. A questionnair
e was distributed to 173 nurses, of whom 144 responded. The questionnaire c
ontained questions about the nurses' own experience of such situations, the
ir behaviour, and their attitude towards influencing the parents. Seventy-f
our percent answered that they had experience of such situations, 59% that
they often tried to persuade or in other ways influence the parents to chan
ge their mind, and 60% were of the opinion that the parents mourning-proces
s is always facilitated when they touch or hold their dead baby. Most nurse
s (83%) were of the opinion that the conflict between beneficence and auton
omy was difficult but not impossible to solve. A majority of the nurses wer
e inclined to give priority to the principle of beneficence. But is this in
clination ethically justified? A well-founded answer to this question requi
res more knowledge about the experiences of parents who have lived through
such traumatic situations.