Events surrounding stillbirth and their effect on symptoms of depression among mothers

Abstract

Women who experience stillbirth often report anxiety, depression, and loss of self-esteem afterward, but aspects of the pregnancy, such as length of pregnancy, seeing the baby after delivery, and seeing the baby as long as they wished might be associated with symptoms of depression. So, we sent an online, detailed questionnaire about their stillbirth experience and their current depression to two Facebook child loss support groups. A total of 66 women answered anonymously through SurveyMonkey. The women delivered their babies at about seven months gestation, on average 2.5 years earlier. The women reported moderately severe depression symptoms, which was related to being single, length of time between diagnosis and delivery, seeing the baby immediately after delivery and as long as they wished and secondary infertility after the stillbirth. Although this sample may have been unique, these women report long-term negative ramifications of their experience. An implication is that the specific details surrounding their stillbirth experience in the hospital can have long-term implications for depression.