Pregnancy loss: what it means to women who miscarry and their partners

Abstract

This paper reports results from six women who had miscarried and their partners in Melbourne. A qualitative approach, namely in-depth semi-structured interviews, was utilised to obtain information. Several themes emerged from the data. The findings of this study show that women and men experienced a variety of feelings in reaction before, during and after the miscarriage. These feelings varied in type, intensity, and duration in which the men generally experienced less intense feelings for a shorter period of time as compared to the women. We argue that support and counselling be provided not only for women who miscarry, but also for their male partner, as the men may have fewer means to express their grief due to the "social expectation" of male roles.