Psychological Support and Follow Up Care Remain Inadequate After Pregnancy Loss

Psychological Support and Follow Up Care Remain Inadequate After Pregnancy Loss | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Psychological Support and Follow Up Care Remain Inadequate After Pregnancy Loss Nicolette V.S. Sewall, Sean E. Oldak, Vanessa L. Padilla, Christopher L. Griffin This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7480950/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Introduction: Pregnancy loss affects nearly 25% of recognized pregnancies and can occur through miscarriage, stillbirth, or genetic termination. According to ACOG, miscarriages alone account for 10–20% of these losses. Regardless of cause, pregnancy loss often leads to intense sense of grief, guilt, and stress for parents. While the psychological impacts can be long-lasting, research highlights a lack of adequate support from healthcare providers. This survey aimed to identify the type and extent of support received by expectant parents following pregnancy loss. Methods Participants were recruited from Facebook support groups for those who experienced loss. Eligibility criteria included U.S. residents over 18 who had lost a pregnancy in the last five years. A mixed-methods survey administered via RedCap gathered both quantitative and qualitative data, analyzing demographics, support received, and unmet emotional needs. Results 137 participants met eligibility criteria. The average age was 32.8 years. Most losses occurred before 12 weeks (62.2%). Around 70% felt they received inadequate emotional and follow-up care, and this sentiment did not differ when considering length of time since loss. Desired services included support groups (77.8%), mental health services (67.4%), and patient navigators (61.5%). Thematic analysis revealed unmet needs in emotional and psychological support. Conclusion Our findings highlight significant gaps in support for parents following pregnancy loss. While sufficient and prompt medical care is generally provided, psychological support and follow-up care often seemed to be lacking. Improved training for healthcare providers, standardized protocols, and access to mental health and peer support are critical to addressing these gaps. Pregnancy loss miscarriage mental health social media women’s health Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7480950","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":528626294,"identity":"f5f9b1db-3442-4eb8-bd9e-b9d007335d8a","order_by":0,"name":"Nicolette V.S. 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According to ACOG, miscarriages alone account for 10\u0026ndash;20% of these losses. Regardless of cause, pregnancy loss often leads to intense sense of grief, guilt, and stress for parents. While the psychological impacts can be long-lasting, research highlights a lack of adequate support from healthcare providers. This survey aimed to identify the type and extent of support received by expectant parents following pregnancy loss.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eMethods\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eParticipants were recruited from Facebook support groups for those who experienced loss. Eligibility criteria included U.S. residents over 18 who had lost a pregnancy in the last five years. A mixed-methods survey administered via RedCap gathered both quantitative and qualitative data, analyzing demographics, support received, and unmet emotional needs.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eResults\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003e137 participants met eligibility criteria. The average age was 32.8 years. Most losses occurred before 12 weeks (62.2%). Around 70% felt they received inadequate emotional and follow-up care, and this sentiment did not differ when considering length of time since loss. Desired services included support groups (77.8%), mental health services (67.4%), and patient navigators (61.5%). Thematic analysis revealed unmet needs in emotional and psychological support.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eConclusion\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eOur findings highlight significant gaps in support for parents following pregnancy loss. While sufficient and prompt medical care is generally provided, psychological support and follow-up care often seemed to be lacking. Improved training for healthcare providers, standardized protocols, and access to mental health and peer support are critical to addressing these gaps.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Psychological Support and Follow Up Care Remain Inadequate After Pregnancy Loss","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-10-16 18:23:31","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7480950/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"bc7e9b18-79f3-468f-bef6-23817a1da8eb","owner":[],"postedDate":"October 16th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-12-11T08:10:17+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-10-16 18:23:31","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-7480950","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-7480950","identity":"rs-7480950","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}