Perinatal Grief Among Poor Rural and Urban Women in Central India

Figures & data

Table 1 Demographics

Characteristics	Rural (N = 217)	Urban (N = 149)	Comparison by X^2 or t-Test
	N (%)	N (%)	p value
Household position			0.000
Head-of-Household	1 (0.5)	1 (0.7)
Wife	46 (21.2)	102 (68.5)
Daughter-in-law	169 (77.9)	25 (30.2)
Daughter	1 (0.5)	1 (0.7)
Family style			0.000
Nuclear	1 (0.5)	78 (52.3)
Joint-family	216 (99.5)	70 (47.0)
Education			0.000
Illiterate	114 (52.5)	22 (14.8)
Primary	47 (21.7)	54 (36.2)
Secondary	38 (17.5)	47 (31.5)
Higher secondary or above	18 (8.3)	26 (17.4)
Religion			0.000
Hindu	216 (99.5)	74 (49.7)
Muslim	–	55 (36.9)
Buddhist	–	17 (11.4)
Other	1 (0.5)	3 (2.0)
Comparative SES			0.747
Worse	28 (13.0)	17 (11.4)
Same or better	188 (86.6)	132 (88.6)
Health problems			0.006
None	139 (64.1)	85 (57.0)
Anemia	37 (17.1)	34 (22.8)
Malaria	14 (6.5)	1 (0.7)
Other	27 (12.4)	29 (19.5)
Tobacco/Paan			0.010
None	165 (76.0)	130 (87.2)
Uses tobacco/paan or both	52 (24.0)	19 (12.8)
Victim of DV			0.000
No	172 (79.6)	147 (98.7)
Yes	44 (20.3)	2 (1.3)
Birth intervals			0.000
< 2 years	179 (82.5)	54 (36.2)
> 2 years	37 (17.1)	68 (45.6)
Contraceptive Method			0.000
None	187 (86.2)	116 (77.9)
Sterilization	25 (11.5)	8 (5.4)
Condoms	3 (1.4)	4 (2.7)
Other	2 (0.9)	20 (13.4)
	M (SD)	M (SD)
Age	28.73 (7.70)	28.07 (4.70)	0.825
Age at first delivery	18.90 (2.47)	20.10 (3.24)	0.006
Number of pregnancies	4.38 (2.27)	3.81 (1.71)	0.006
Number of stillbirths suffered	1.26 (1.00)	1.07 (1.12)	0.100
Number of other losses	0.50 (0.82)	0.60 (0.76)	0.242
Combined losses	1.75 (1.08)	1.67 (1.19)	0.531
Number of living sons	1.15 (1.05)	0.96 (0.91)	0.071
Number of living daughters	1.50 (1.47)	1.09 (1.00)	0.001

Table 2 Comparing Rural and Urban Women with Perinatal Loss on Variables of Interest Using Independent Samples t-Tests

Parameter	Rural N = 217	Urban N = 149	t (256)	p	95% CI
	M (SD)	M (SD)
Social norms	7.16 (3.88)	3.22 (2.12)	12.03	0.000	[3.30, 4.58]
Autonomy	4.16 (1.51)	7.70 (2.05)	−18.00	0.000	[−3.93, −3.16]
Social support	37.25 (4.31)	39.31 (6.30)	−3.42	0.001	[−3.24, −0.87]
Wishful thinking	8.82 (2.31)	11.32 (4.12)	−6.71	0.000	[−3.23, −1.76]
Practical coping	7.57 (2.08)	13.99 (4.09)	−17.66	0.000	[−7.14, −5.71]
Perinatal grief	110.84 (17.40)	78.75 (26.97)	9.51	0.000	[25.39, 38.78]

Table 3 Summary of Regression Analyses for Variables Predicting Perinatal Grief by Site

A. Rural participants (N = 212)
Variable	B	SE B	β
Constant	130.43	14.90
Birth intervals	−0.04	2.78	−0.00
Age at 1st delivery	−0.49	0.42	−0.07
Social provision of support	−0.69	0.23	−0.17**
Wishful thinking	−0.19	0.52	−0.03
Practical coping	0.49	0.58	0.06
Autonomy	−0.50	0.69	−0.04
Social norms	2.16	0.28	0.48***
R^2	0.31
F for change in R^2	13.37***
B. Urban participants (N = 138)
Variable	B	SE B	β
Constant	55.78	21.41
Number of stillbirths	−6.28	6.57	−0.23
Combined number of losses	11.79	5.87	0.47
Social provision of support	−0.75	0.41	−0.21
Wishful thinking	2.95	0.78	0.41***
Social norms	3.12	1.49	0.23*
R^2	0.384
F for change in R^2	6.61***

Notes: (A) **p<0.01, ***p<0.001. (B) *p<0.05, ***p<0.001.

Table 4 Summary of Regression Analysis for Shared Variables Predicting Perinatal Grief Among a Combined Sample of Rural and Urban Participants (N = 272)

Predictor	Perinatal Grief
	Final Model 4**		p
	β	B (SE)
Constant		80.59 (36.24)	0.030
Site	0.099	5.60 (14.99)	0.710
Socioeconomic status	0.040	3.77 (7.99)	0.639
Religion	−0.098	−3.60 (3.85)	0.352
Education	−0.077	−2.09 (2.77)	0.453
Household position	0.213	11.44 (4.79)	0.020
Mother’s age at 1st delivery	−0.002	−0.03 (0.96)	0.977
Domestic violence	−0.149	−12.80 (7.47)	0.091
Birth intervals	−0.087	−5.09 (5.68)	0.373
Number of living sons	0.102	3.15 (2.67)	0.242
Both stillbirth and infant death	0.393	22.03 (12.01)	0.071
Combined number of losses	0.042	0.96 (2.19)	0.661
Social support	−0.280	−1.18 (0.38)	0.003
Practical coping	−0.098	−0.63 (0.71)	0.383
Autonomy	0.140	1.61 (1.41)	0.256
Social norms	0.266*	2.12 (0.89)	0.020
R^2	0.621
Adjusted R^2	0.536
F-change statistic	4.594**

Note: **p < 0.01.