Validation of the Revised Impact of Miscarriage Scale for Swedish conditions and comparison between Swedish and American couples’ experiences after miscarriage
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: There is a lack of knowledge in women's and men's experience of miscarriage. The Revised Impact of Miscarriage Scale (RIMS) has been used in United States to measure the experiences after miscarriage. The first objective was to test the consistency of RIMS for Swedish conditions. The second purpose of this study was to compare Swedish and American couples' experience of miscarriage by use of the RIMS. METHODS: Forward and back translation was used for translating RIMS into Swedish. This is a hospital-based comparative study including Swedish couples (n = 70) and American couples (n = 70). The couples were matched by the women's age, week of miscarriage and number of children. All participants answered socio-demographic, fertility and depression-scale questions in addition to RIMS. RESULTS: Cronbach's alpha analysis was above 0.650, the mean value was 0.824. There was no significant difference between the Swedish and American participants on the factors 'Isolation/Guilt' and 'Devastating event', but the Swedish women and men scored significantly lower on the factor 'Loss of baby' than the American women and men. The men, Swedish and American combined, scored lower than the women in all factors but the correlation within the couples was similar for both Swedish and American couples. CONCLUSIONS: The high consistency between the countries suggests that the RIMS questionnaire is reliable for both women and men to be used in both countries and two of three factors were similar between the two countries.
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With the exception of one study which employed author-developed measures of grief and support service satisfaction, the remaining quantitative studies employed standardised and validated measures for both predictors and grief.
“With the exception of one study which employed author-developed measures of grief and support service satisfaction [70] the remaining quantitative studies employed standardised and validated measures for both predictors and grief [23–25, 67, 76, 84, 86–96].”
From Men’s grief following pregnancy loss and neonatal loss: a systematic review and emerging theoretical model (2020) · cites this paper as [76]
Of the 12 quantitative studies that provided raw grief scores for men, outcomes varied considerably both between studies and within them.
“Of the 12 quantitative studies that provided raw grief scores for men, outcomes varied considerably both between studies and within them [23, 25, 67, 76, 84, 87, 88, 91, 93–96].”
From Men’s grief following pregnancy loss and neonatal loss: a systematic review and emerging theoretical model (2020) · cites this paper as [76]
Across other grief measures, men scored highly on the Devastating Event (RIMS), Denial and Social Desirability (GEI-L), and Avoidance (IES) subscales.
“Across other grief measures, men scored highly on the Devastating Event (RIMS), Denial and Social Desirability (GEI-L), and Avoidance (IES) subscales [23, 76, 91, 94, 96].”
From Men’s grief following pregnancy loss and neonatal loss: a systematic review and emerging theoretical model (2020) · cites this paper as [76]
The difference between men's and women's grief scores was approximately 20 points on the PGS and IES, and 3 points on the RIMS.
“This was indicated by approximately 20 points of difference on the PGS and IES [88, 91, 93], and 3 points of difference on the RIMS [23, 76].”
From Men’s grief following pregnancy loss and neonatal loss: a systematic review and emerging theoretical model (2020) · cites this paper as [76]
Of the included quantitative studies, 16 included an analysis on predictors of men's grief and/or correlations to related factors.
“Of the included quantitative studies, 16 included an analysis on predictors of men’s grief and/or correlations to related factors [23–25, 67, 76, 84, 86–93, 95, 96].”
From Men’s grief following pregnancy loss and neonatal loss: a systematic review and emerging theoretical model (2020) · cites this paper as [76]
One study comparing Swedish and American couples' experiences of miscarriage found differences between the samples on one subscale of the RMIS (Loss of Baby), but this difference was attributed to linguistic understanding and wording of the scale questions, rather than the grief experience itself.
“One study comparing Swedish and American couples’ experiences of miscarriage [76] found differences between the samples on one subscale of the RMIS (Loss of Baby). However, this difference was attributed to linguistic understanding and wording of the scale questions, rather than the grief experience itself.”
From Men’s grief following pregnancy loss and neonatal loss: a systematic review and emerging theoretical model (2020) · cites this paper as [76]
In some quantitative studies, men's grief was less intense compared to women's.
“Although men’s grief was less intense compared to women’s in some quantitative studies [23, 67, 76, 88, 91, 93, 94, 96], qualitative studies identified the significant impact of loss on men.”
From Men’s grief following pregnancy loss and neonatal loss: a systematic review and emerging theoretical model (2020) · cites this paper as [76]
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- Authors
- Jansson, C., Volgsten, H., Huffman, C., Skoog Svanberg, A., Swanson, K. M., & Stavreus-Evers, A.
- Affiliations
- Uppsala University (SE)
- Appalachian State University (US)
- Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden;
- Seattle University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Stavreus-Evers, Anneli
- Venue
- The European Journal of Contraception & Reproductive Health Care
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2017-11-02
- Volume
- 22
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 412-417
- ISSN
- 1362-5187 (ISSN-L)
- 1473-0782
- OpenAlex
- W2778064906
- Cited by
- 19
- References
- 29
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 4 · 2018: 2
- FWCI
- 2.04
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The European Journal of Contraception & Reproductive Health Care (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Family Planning Foundation at Uppsala University
- Fru Tora Wåhlins Foundation
- Vinnova
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Reproductive Health and Contraception
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum
- Keywords
- miscarriage, questionnaire validation, Swedish translation, cross-cultural comparison, couples' experiences, psychometric reliability
- MeSH terms
- Abortion, Spontaneous, Adult, Female, Grief, Humans, Male, Pregnancy, Psychiatric Status Rating Scales, Surveys and Questionnaires, Sweden, Translations, United States, Reproducibility of Results, Spouses, Young Adult
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