Grief at Stillbirth: An Annotated Bibliography

In the last 10 years there has been a proliferation of articles dealing with the emotional aspects of stillbirth. Most of these articles have dealt with supportive care of parents grieving for a stillborn child. Several articles have sought to describe the processes and characteristics of mourning after a perinatal death. Only a few authors have taken on the difficult task of research in this area of grief.As members of the Perinatal Mortality Counseling Program* (PMCP) at Shands Teaching Hospital, Gainesville, Florida, a crisis intervention and information and research team, we have become painfully aware of the need for informed counseling and research which may aid both parents and professionals who encounter stillbirth. Since much of the literature has dealt exclusively with neonatal death, we have compiled an annotated bibliography to acquaint the obstetrical community with the literature particular to stillbirth, the type of perinatal death that obstetricians are most likely to encounter.