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. 2009 Mar-Apr;50(2):123-30.
doi: 10.1176/appi.psy.50.2.123.

Shared or discordant grief in couples 2-6 years after the death of their premature baby: effects on suffering and posttraumatic growth

Stefan Büchi  1 , Hanspeter Mörgeli, Ulrich Schnyder, Josef Jenewein, Annette Glaser, Jean-Claude Fauchère, Hans Ulrich Bucher, Tom Sensky
Affiliations
Free article

Shared or discordant grief in couples 2-6 years after the death of their premature baby: effects on suffering and posttraumatic growth

Stefan Büchi et al. Psychosomatics. 2009 Mar-Apr.
Free article

Abstract

Background: The loss of a baby causes severe short- and long-term distress to parents and their marital relationship, but little is known about how this distress is shared between spouses. The authors hypothesized that the grief-related concordance within a couple 2 to 6 years after the loss of a premature baby could be an indicator of shared emotional distress within a couple.

Objective: The authors investigated the long-term grief experience among couples.

Method: A group of 44 parents (22 couples) were assessed by questionnaire regarding grief, suffering, posttraumatic growth, and affective symptoms, and semistructured interviews with 6 couples added qualitative information about processes within couples.

Results: The extent of grief concordance was found to be related to different patterns of suffering and posttraumatic growth within couples.

Conclusion: The emotional exchange between partners after the loss of the child appears to be crucial for a process of concordant grief, which in turn is associated with a more synchronous process of individual posttraumatic growth.

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