The Psychological Impact of Foetal Loss at Term on Sudanese Mothers

Volume 1 - Issue 3

Kunna A¹, Khairy S Ismail^{2, 1}, Hassan A Elkheir³*, Suad Enour¹ and Umbeli Taha²

Received: January 12, 2018;   Published: February 05, 2018

DOI: 10.32474/IGWHC.2018.01.000114

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Abstract

This is a descriptive, cross-sectional study to explore and describe the psychological impact and social support following perinatal loss among Sudanese Mothers who have been through it before, hence, to evaluate it among them, to estimate the magnitude of psychological and social consequences of childbirth resulting in perinatal death, to explore and describe social support following perinatal loss, and to assess how well our health care providers feel when dealing with parents who have suffered perinatal loss. The study was conducted at 3 hospitals; namely, Saudi, Saad Abulilla and Omdurman maternity hospitals; among Sudanese Mothers who had experienced perinatal losses from February to July 2014, using a self- administered questionnaire after a prior informed consent. They were interviewed between the 1st days to 12 months following their fetal losses. Data was collected by trained data collectors- through self-administered questionnaires and interviews- using a structured format, and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) Program version 16 software. A total of 110 respondent Sudanese mothers were included, most of them were house wives, and 58(52.7%) aged between 31–40 years. 96 (87.3%) experienced sadness after loss and had a desire to carry another pregnancy in the future. Family and husband play an important role in providing support. 96 (87.3%) agreed that whatever happened was a test from God. Mothers who have been through perinatal losses should be screened for psychosocial impact. Family, husband and friends should continue to provide emotional support. Health care providers should provide psychosocial support during antenatal, delivery and postnatal care.

Keywords: Sudan; Prenatal Loss; Psychological

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