Women's voices after pregnancy loss: couples' patterns of communication and support

This paper reports results of a study of prenatal diagnosis patients who lost pregnancies. The women felt they shared much in common with their male partners and generally felt understood and supported by the men. However, many of the women also saw their responses to the loss as different from those of their male partners. A variety of coping patterns were adopted by the women in the face of these differences. Implications are considered for preventive efforts to minimize distress; treatment approaches to help couples who experience greater difficulties; and future research directions.