Exploring interactions among nurses, midwives and women who have experienced pregnancy loss: a descriptive qualitative study in China

Objective: To gain an understanding of how nurses, midwives and women who have experienced pregnancy loss perceive their interactions during pregnancy termination. Design Qualitative interview study. Setting A delivery room and six maternity wards of a tertiary hospital in China. Population A purposive sample of six nurses, thirteen midwives and seven women who experienced pregnancy loss. Methods Thematic analysis of semi-structured in-depth interviews. Main Outcome Measures Themes derived from interview transcripts. Results Five themes were identified: (1) interaction quality and characteristics, (2) interactive contradiction, (3) influencing factors of the interaction, (4) training needs and (5) suggestions for benign interactions. Conclusions Healthcare providers should be instructed in adopting a respectful and sympathetic attitude in communication, strengthening information support and offering patient-centred care for effective interactions. Ignoring women’s needs and using disrespectful words should be avoided. Perinatal bereavement training for preparing nurses and midwives in perinatal bereavement care and addressing heavy emotional burden is necessary. Additional efforts are needed to improve medical services and to facilitate benign interactions in induced abortion care. Funding This study was funded by the Zhejiang Medical and Health Research Project (Foundation Number: 2020KY173). Keywords Bereavement care, qualitative, pregnancy loss, abortion, interaction, communication