Trauma following termination of pregnancy for fetal abnormality: is this the path from guilt to grief?

Bárbara Nazaré*, Ana Fonseca, Maria Cristina Canavarro

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

15 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Termination of pregnancy for fetal abnormality (TOPFA) is a potentially traumatic event that may lead to intense grief symptomatology. The present study included 41 couples who were assessed 1-6 months after TOPFA. No gender differences were found regarding the intensity of trauma symptomatology or the prevalence of clinically relevant trauma symptom atology, present in about a third of the sample. Most couples were congruent regarding trauma symptomatology. Women experienced guilt with significantly more frequency than men. For both genders, guilt influenced both trauma and grief symptomatology. For women only, guilt influenced grief symptomatology indirectly, through trauma symptomatology. Clinical implications are discussed.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)244-261
Number of pages18
JournalJournal of Loss and Trauma
Volume19
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2 Nov 2012
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Couple
  • Grief symptomatology
  • Guilt
  • Termination of pregnancy for fetal abnormality
  • Trauma symptomatology

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