Grief Theory and Perinatal Palliative Care (Nursing)

00:01 Now, let's talk about grief theory and how we need to support clients depending on the type of grief they're experiencing that might be related to any of these perinatal losses.

00:11 Think of the client who's lost a baby, and they don't know why.

00:14 So if you've had a baby that died, and they've done an autopsy, or they've looked at the products of conception, and they're not able to give you a reason.

00:23 You don't know why the baby died.

00:26 Then the clients might experience what we call, ambiguous grief because they don't really get closure and that can have a significant impact on really getting to recovery.

00:35 Clients can also experience disenfranchised grief, and that's grief that no one else acknowledges.

00:41 So when you don't have a physical baby to take home, sometimes people don't even acknowledge there's a loss.

00:48 And so the family's walking around with all of that sadness inside, and no one else is offering any kind of comfort or support.

00:55 We can also experience complicated grief, and this is grief that just doesn't resolve overtime.

01:01 Now, unfortunately, some people say things like, "You should be over it by now." And that's not something we should really ever say.

01:08 But sometimes the grief is so impactful that clients are really not able to function in their daily life, even six months, a year, two years, five years later.

01:17 That's complicated grief.

01:22 Just as we have palliative care for adults that are nearing a terminal stage or end-of-life, we can also have palliative care for parents who are experiencing a baby that has a condition that may be incompatible with life.

01:34 So if we know the baby is not going to live or maybe not live very long once they're born, there is a palliative care that's just for them.