The psychological, social, and economic impact of stillbirth on families
Abstract
This article reviews the current state of psychological, social, and economic research into the impact of stillbirth on families. We argue that whereas the knowledge we have of the experiential aspects of stillbirth is increasing, there is still much that remains to be uncovered especially in respect of the impact that seeing the baby may have on mental health. Moreover, the experience of particular social groups merits further work, most notably regarding same-sex couples and surrogates, mothers and fathers drawn from Black and Minority Ethnic groups as well as those from lower socio-economic groups. Particular attention needs to be paid to the economic impact of stillbirth on families, whether this is from a perspective that focuses on the family or the wider society in which they live.
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The database searches identified 1529 potentially eligible studies, and a further 23 articles were sourced manually, resulting in a total of 1552 articles; 46 studies were selected for inclusion.
“The database searches identified 1529 potentially eligible studies. A further 23 articles were sourced manually from database-identified articles and systematic reviews [27, 37, 38], resulting in a total of 1552 articles. Following removal of duplicates and screening, a total of 46 studies were selected for inclusion in the final analysis”
From Men’s grief following pregnancy loss and neonatal loss: a systematic review and emerging theoretical model (2020) · cites this paper as [27]
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- Authors
- Murphy, S., & Cacciatore, J.
- Affiliations
- The Open University (GB)
- Arizona State University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Murphy, Samantha
- Venue
- Seminars in Fetal and Neonatal Medicine
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2017-06
- Volume
- 22
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 129-134
- ISSN
- 1744-165X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2588139059
- Cited by
- 82
- References
- 71
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 16 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 4
- FWCI
- 1.00
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Seminars in Fetal and Neonatal Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Open Research Online (The Open University) (acceptedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Global Maternal and Child Health
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Maternal and Neonatal Healthcare
- Keywords
- stillbirth, family impact, maternal mental health, social impact, economic impact, same-sex couples, surrogacy, socioeconomic status, perinatal loss
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Bereavement, Family, Family Characteristics, Female, Humans, Male, Pregnancy, Social Support, Parenting, Health Care Costs, Cost of Illness, Stillbirth
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