[Paternal grief and nursing care in perinatal deaths]

Perinatal death distresses all family members. Paternal perceptions of perinatal death should be better understood in order to help the expectant father maintain long-term health and quality of life and minimize the potential negative effects of paternal grieving and stress on family and marital relations. Male and female grieving behaviors have been shown to differ significantly. Taiwan society typically expects males to be strong and support the family while avoiding the overt expression or revelation of personal feelings such as grief, regret, and anger. Although fathers may be reluctant to express a need for care, care personnel may facilitate care through such activities as understanding of a perinatal-death father's feelings, providing related messages about the event to facilitate good decisions, helping him support his spouse, helping him adopt appropriate behaviors and attitudes toward the fetus, and treating him as a grieving father rather than a medical event. This article reviews the literature to explore paternal perceptions and reactions toward perinatal death in order to recognize nursing needs and principles of grieving fathers within the Taiwan cultural context. Further study in this area is recommended.