The utility of a psychological intervention for coping with spontaneous abortion

Abstract

Background: The object of this study is to implement and to examine the effectiveness a psychological support intervention drawing from three clinical techniques (support, psychoeducation, Cognitive‐Behavioural Therapy) for women who have suffered a spontaneous abortion. Method: 134 women participated in the study: 66 composed the Immediate Intervention group (II) and 68 the Deferred Intervention (DI) group. All participants completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and the Impact of Events Scale – Revised (IES‐R) at 3 and 10 weeks as well as 6 months following study enrollment. Results: Results at three weeks show significant differences between the groups for anxiety, depression and event impact. Multiple regression analyses showed that intervention group and depression antecedents were significant predictors of overall adaptation after a miscarriage. Conclusions: In terms of prevention, a brief early single‐session psychological intervention appears to be a particularly pertinent, efficacious and cost‐effective method for addressing psychological distress following miscarriage.

Keywords:

• miscarriage
• support
• anxiety
• depression