'Stories of Loss'-Designing and Evaluating a Patient-Led Perinatal Bereavement Programme for Medical Students

Providing bereavement support to parents who have experienced a perinatal loss requires knowledge, empathy and sensitivity. Undergraduate opportunities to learn directly from parents with personal experience remain limited. This study assessed medical students' responses to parent-led stories on perinatal loss, evaluating their self-reported changes in knowledge, skills and self-awareness.

Final-year medical students in University College Dublin participated in a new educational initiative featuring parent-educators from three perinatal loss advocacy groups. Each session focused on the parents' personal experiences of pregnancy loss and was designed collaboratively with the authors and independently led by the parents.

Evaluation used a validated preintervention and postintervention questionnaire-the Perinatal Bereavement Care Confidence Scale (PBCCS). This measures self-reported knowledge, support skills and self-awareness in providing bereavement care. Students also provided free-text comments on confidence promoters, inhibitors and suggestions for improvement. Statistically significant improvements were observed across all three domains of the PBCCS following the educational sessions. Knowledge scores increased 28.2%, from 2.80 to 3.59 (p < 0.01; Cohen's d = 0.39). Skills rose 43.1%, from 2.16 to 3.09 (p < 0.001; d = 0.65). Self-awareness increased 21.6%, from 3.29 to 4.00 (p < 0.001). Thematic content analysis of free-text responses revealed a lack of experience and fear of 'saying the wrong thing' as confidence inhibitors. Postintervention responses highlighted the value of hearing from the bereaved parents, with students calling for continued parent-educator sessions.

This pilot educational programme highlights the value of in-person, parent-led education and suggests that integrating the lived experience can better prepare students to provide bereavement care.