Exploring Black Women's Experiences with Perinatal Loss, Grief, and Coping

Abstract

This study's purpose is to better understand the lived experiences of Black women who have experienced perinatal loss using Stroebe and Schut’s (1999) Dual Process Model of Coping with Bereavement as a guiding framework. A descriptive phenomenological design was used to conduct semi-structured one-on-one interviews with a purposive recruited sample. The sample consisted of five Black mothers who had experienced a perinatal loss between 20 and 36 weeks gestation within the past five years. Colaizzi’s (1978) framework was used to conduct data analysis. Each woman’s unique story is detailed, following a description of the three emergent themes and seven theme clusters. The three emergent themes found were medical negligence, social relationships, and transformation. These findings build upon existing literature and offer implications for healthcare and research professionals. Future research directions are also explored.