Shared or discordant grief in couples 2-6 years after the death of their premature baby: effects on suffering and posttraumatic growth.

BACKGROUND

The loss of a baby causes severe short- and long-term distress to parents and their marital relationship, but little is known about how this distress is shared between spouses. The authors hypothesized that the grief-related concordance within a couple 2 to 6 years after the loss of a premature baby could be an indicator of shared emotional distress within a couple.

OBJECTIVE

The authors investigated the long-term grief experience among couples.

METHOD: A group of 44 parents (22 couples) were assessed by questionnaire regarding grief, suffering, posttraumatic growth, and affective symptoms, and semistructured interviews with 6 couples added qualitative information about processes within couples.

RESULTS

The extent of grief concordance was found to be related to different patterns of suffering and posttraumatic growth within couples.

CONCLUSION

The emotional exchange between partners after the loss of the child appears to be crucial for a process of concordant grief, which in turn is associated with a more synchronous process of individual posttraumatic growth.