Is partners’ mental health and well-being affected by holding the baby after stillbirth? Mothers’ accounts from a national survey

Figures & data

Table 1. Proportions of partners who were reported to have contact with their baby after stillbirth.

RedshawRedshaw	Rowe et al.Rowe et al.		Redshaw
			Redshaw	Rowe et al.
Type of contact (n)	% (n)	% (n)	% (n)	% (n)
See baby (455)	91.9 (418)	8.1 (37)	0.7 (3)	7.5 (34)
Hold baby (455)	81.5 (371)	18.5 (84)	2.9 (13)	15.6 (71)

Table 2. Demographic, clinical and care characteristics of those who held or did not hold their baby.

	Held% (n)	Did not hold% (n)
DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS (n)
Plurality of pregnancy (448) (p = 0.096)
Singleton	82.4 (346)	17.6 (74)
Multiple	67.9 (19)	32.1 (9)
Partner age (years) (444) (p = 0.402)
16–19	100 (4)	0 (0)
20–29	85.7 (108)	14.3 (18)
30–39	80.8 (194)	19.2 (46)
40+	78.4 (58)	21.6 (16)
Maternal age on leaving full-time education (years) (447) (p = 0.826)
<17	80.6 (54)	19.4 (13)
17–18	83.1 (118)	16.9 (24)
19+	80.7 (192)	19.3 (46)
Partner country of birth (455)* (p = 0.017)
UK	84.2 (304)	15.3 (57)
Outside the UK	72.3 (60)	27.7 (23)
Missing	63.6 (7)	36.4 (4)
Mother reported partnership status (455) (p = 0.461)
Married or with partner	82.1 (343)	17.9 (75)
Single mother	75.7 (28)	24.3 (9)
Index of multiple deprivation (450) (p = 0.220)
1 (most deprived)	82.3 (79)	17.7 (17)
2	75.8 (69)	24.2 (22)
3	81.6 (71)	18.4 (16)
4	85.9 (79)	14.1 (13)
5 (least deprived)	83.3 (70)	16.7 (14)
CLINICAL CHARACTERISTICS (n)
Maternal parity (455) (p = 0.078)
Primiparous	84.4 (227)	15.6 (42)
Multiparous	77.4 (144)	22.6 (42)
Mother experienced previous pregnancy loss (452) (p = 0.999)
No	81.8 (265)	18.2 (59)
Yes (miscarriage, late miscarriage, termination, stillbirth or neonatal death)	81.3 (104)	18.8 (24)
Pregnancy the result of infertility treatment (447) (p = 0.999)
No	81.4 (341)	18.6 (78)
Yes	82.1 (23)	17.9 (5)
Gestation at birth (438)*** (p = 0.003)
24–28 weeks	80.0 (80)	20.0 (20)
29–32 weeks	77.0 (47)	23.0 (14)
33–36 weeks	71.3 (62)	28.7 (25)
37+ weeks	88.9 (169)	11.1 (21)
Time from antepartum death to delivery (441)***(p = 0.003)
1 + weeks before birth	77.0 (67)	23.0 (20)
Few days before birth	73.9 (116)	26.1 (41)
The day before birth	85.7 (54)	14.3 (9)
Hours before or during birth	91.6 (87)	8.4 (8)
Unsure	89.7 (35)	10.3 (4)
Type of delivery (435) (p = 0.289)
Vaginal	82.1 (307)	17.9 (67)
Caesarean	75.4 (46)	24.6 (15)
Congenital anomaly (440) (p = 0.556)
No	82.8 (318)	17.2 (66)
Yes	78.6 (44)	21.4 (12)
CARE EXPERIENCE
Partner felt listened to (438) (p = 0.782)
Yes	81.4 (223)	18.6 (51)
To some extent/no	82.9 (136)	17.1 (28)
Partner felt concerns were taken seriously (438) (p = 0.965)
Yes	81.5 (238)	18.5 (54)
To some extent/no	82.2 (120)	17.8 (26)
Partner felt informed about what was happening (438) (p = 0.966)
Yes	81.5 (247)	17.8 (24)
To some extent/no	82.2 (111)	18.5 (56)
Partner felt they had a part in decision-making (437) (p = 0.685)
Yes	82.4 (230)	17.6 (49)
To some extent/no	80.4 (127)	19.6 (31)
Partner felt their needs were acknowledged (437) (p = 0.838)
Yes	81.2 (216)	18.8 (50)
To some extent/no	82.5 (141)	17.5 (30)
Mother held baby (450)*** (p < 0.001)
Yes	92.3 (349)	7.7 (29)
No	26.4 (19)	73.6 (53)

^* p < .05

^** p < .01

^*** p < .001.

Table 3. Partners’ and mothers’ mental health and well-being after stillbirth (n = 455).

	Partners% (n)	Mothers% (n)
3 months
Depression	24.4 (111)	42.6 (194)
Anxiety	16.5 (75)	38.7 (176)
PTSD-type symptoms	23.7 (108)	50.5 (230)
Poor physical health	7.7 (35)	13.2 (60)
Relationship difficulties with partner	11.9 (54)	17.4 (79)
Relationship difficulties with family	8.8 (40)	21.3 (97)
9 months
Depression	13.0 (59)	23.7 (108)
Anxiety	11.0 (50)	30.5 (139)
PTSD-type symptoms	11.9 (54)	35.6 (162)
Poor physical health	5.5 (25)	4.6 (21)
Relationship difficulties with partner	5.1 (23)	8.8 (40)
Relationship difficulties with family	4.4 (20)	12.1 (55)

Note:

Differences between mothers and partners, and between 3 and 9 months, all statistically significant (p < 0.001).

Table 4. Impact of holding the stillborn baby on baby on partner mental health and well-being (n = 455).

	Held % (n)	Did not hold % (n)	OR (95% CI)	ORadj (95% CI)
Mental and physical health 3 months after the birth
Depression*** (p = 0.005)	27.2 (101)	11.9 (10)	2.77** (1.38–5.57)	2.72** (1.35–5.50)
Anxiety (p = 0.157)	17.8 (66)	10.7 (9)	1.80 (0.86–3.78)	1.63 (0.77–3.44)
PTSD-type symptoms* (p = 0.035)	25.9 (96)	14.3 (12)	2.10* (1.09–4.03)	1.95* (1.01–3.78)
Poor physical health (p = 0.999)	7.8 (29)	7.1 (6)	1.10 (0.44–2.75)	1.19 (0.47–2.99)
Mental and physical health 9 months after the birth
Depression (p = 0.390)	13.7 (51)	9.5 (8)	1.51 (0.69–3.32)	1.53 (0.69–3.39)
Anxiety (p = 0.504)	11.6 (43)	8.3 (7)	1.44 (0.63–3.33)	1.27 (0.55–2.96)
PTSD-type symptoms (p = 0.861)	12.1 (45)	10.7 (9)	1.15 (0.54–2.46)	1.09 (0.51–2.35)
Poor physical health (p = 0.126)	4.6 (17)	9.5 (8)	0.46 (0.19–1.10)	0.58 (0.23–1.45)
Relationship difficulties 3 months after birth
With partner (p = 0.567)	11.3 (42)	14.3 (12)	0.77 (0.39–1.53)	0.71 (0.35–1.43)
With family (p = 0.218)	9.7 (36)	4.8 (4)	2.15 (0.74–6.21)	1.90 (0.65–5.55)
Relationship difficulties 9 months after birth
With partner (p = 0.489)	4.6 (17)	7.1 (6)	0.63 (0.24–1.63)	0.57 (0.22–1.51)
With family (p = 0.060)	5.4 (20)	0 (0)

OR_adj: with adjustment for partner’s country of birth.

* p < .05

** p < .01

*** p < .001.

Table 5. Associations between holding, seeing alone, and neither seeing nor holding and outcomes.

	Held and saw baby (n = 371)% (n)	Saw but did not hold baby (n = 47)% (n)	Neither saw nor held baby (n = 37)% (n)
Mental and physical health 3 months after birth
Depression (p = 0.005)**	27.2 (101)	6.4 (3)	18.9 (7)
Anxiety (p = 0.139)	17.8 (66)	6.4 (3)	16.2 (6)
PTSD-type symptoms (p = 0.078)	25.9 (96)	14.9 (7)	13.5 (5)
Poor physical health (p = 0.523)	7.8 (29)	4.3 (2)	10.8 (4)
Mental and physical health 9 months after birth
Depression (p = 0.549)	13.7 (51)	10.6 (4)	8.1 (3)
Anxiety (p = 0.689)	11.6 (43)	8.5 (4)	8.1 (3)
PTSD-type symptoms (p = 0.756)	12.1 (45)	12.8 (6)	8.1 (3)
Poor physical health (p = 0.073)	4.6 (17)	6.4 (3)	13.5 (5)
Relationship difficulties 3 months after birth
With partner (p = 0.137)	11.3 (42)	8.5 (4)	21.6 (8)
With family (p = 0.346)	9.7 (36)	4.3 (2)	5.4 (2)
Relationship difficulties 9 months after birth
With partner (p = 0.587)	4.6 (17)	6.4 (3)	8.1 (3)
With family (p = 0.094)	5.4 (20)	0 (0)	0 (0)

* p < .05.

** p < .01.

*** p < .001.