Attachment and meaning-making in perinatal bereavement.

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Bereavement Studies
• Attachment Theory

Background:

• Perinatal bereavement poses significant psychological challenges.
• Attachment and meaning-making are crucial in understanding grief.
• Existing research often overlooks the interplay of these factors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the psychological impact of perinatal bereavement.
• To investigate the roles of attachment security and meaning-making in grief acuity.
• To predict grief acuity using attachment security and search for meaning.

Main Methods:

• Descriptive and predictive analysis of 108 women experiencing perinatal loss.
• Utilized Antonovsky's Sense of Coherence (SOC) scale for attachment security.
• Assessed psychological distress, intrusive thoughts, and search for meaning.

Main Results:

• Sense of Coherence and search for meaning significantly predicted current grief acuity.
• These factors remained significant after controlling for time post-loss, distress, and intrusive thoughts.
• Findings support a dual attachment and meaning-making model of grief.

Conclusions:

• Grief following perinatal loss is an interpretive process.
• The loss disrupts core life purposes, necessitating meaning-making.
• Attachment security and the search for meaning are key targets for intervention.