FONSECA, A. C.; http://lattes.cnpq.br/7318754809870245; FONSECA, Andrielly Cavalcante.
Abstract:
Mourning in the face of perinatal death is specific and different from a real loss, since
the mother has never known the object of her mourning and the sudden death of the
baby also represents the loss of a maternal identity. It is at this moment, after the
knowledge that something that has not happened, that the expectations and desires to
generate a life are forbidden, and suffering and reaction to loss take repercussions. This
study aims to investigate the experiences of mothers in perinatal mourning. This is an
exploratory research, with a qualitative approach, carried out with women in perinatal
mourning accompanied by the multidisciplinary team of a public maternity hospital in
Paraíba. Eighteen women aged between 18 and 46 years who experienced perinatal loss
from the 9th week of pregnancy to 20 days of birth participated in the study. From the
discourses of the bereaved women it was possible to elaborate two thematic categories:
Thematic Category 1 - Grieving Process, which was divided into three subcategories:
Subcategory 1 - Anticipatory mourning; Subcategory 2 - Grief work and Subcategory 3
- poorly elaborated grief and Thematic Category 3 - Process of caring for the parturient,
which was divided into two subcategories: Subcategory 1 - Authentic care and
Subcategory 2 - Inauthentic care. In general, it was observed that most women
elaborated the loss of their babies, went through the work of mourning, experiencing
feelings of shock, denial, guilt, ambivalence, and, thus, resignifying their pains,
however, other women could not elaborate the loss of the dead baby. With regard to the
care process, there was, in general, a gap in humanized care to women, especially in the
intrapartum and puerperal period. It is considered essential and urgent to develop and
implement a public policy focused on perinatal mourning, from the immediate
puerperium to its home return, which can be conducted by the entire multidisciplinary
health team of Primary Health Care.