The Relationship between Perinatal Grief and Spiritual Well-Being in Women Experiencing Termination due to Fetal Anomaly in Türkiye

Abstract

Pregnancy termination is a significant event in women's lives and can be considered a traumatic experience that can assess grief reactions. Couples who accept the decision to have a medical termination due to fetal anomaly face not only anxiety and feelings of loss, but also difficulties adapting to and coping with the termination process. This study aims to examine the relationship between perinatal grief and spiritual well-being in women who experience termination due to fetal anomaly. The study sample consisted of 256 women who had undergone termination during pregnancy. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (percentage, mean, standard deviation), the Mann-Whitney U test for independent samples, the Kruskal-Wallis test, Spearman correlation, and multiple linear regression analyses. The participants' mean score on the Perinatal Grief Scale was 112.87 +/- 15.04. The spiritual well-being scale subscale scores were 56.13 +/- 8.69 for the transcendence subscale, 25.27 +/- 2.94 for the harmony with nature subscale, and 26.58 +/- 3.18 for the anomie subscale. The correlation between the mean scores of the scales indicated that perinatal grief level was positively and significantly related to both the transcendence (r = 0.454; p < .001) and harmony with nature (r = 0.571; p < .001) subscales, while there was a strong negative correlation between perinatal grief and the anomie subscale (r = -0.762; p < .001). In conclusion, the study results indicate that perinatal grief is significantly related to various dimensions of spiritual well-being. These findings support the idea that supporting spiritual well-being in individuals experiencing perinatal grief can strengthen psychosocial adjustment.