Contemporary Nursing

Objective To understand the current status of Stigma in women with perinatal loss and the factors influencing it. Methods A convenience sampling method was used to select 245 mothers experiencing perinatal loss in three tertiary hospitals in Jiangsu Province from September 2022 to September 2023, and a cross-sectional survey was conducted using the General Information Questionnaire, Stillbirth Stigma Scale, Self-Esteem Scale, Social Support Scale, and Perinatal Grief Scale. Results The 245 cases of perinatal loss had scores of (59.49±10.87), (29.03±5.19), (57.61±7.43), (92.64±12.39) for stigma, self-esteem, social support, and grief. Stigma of women with perinatal loss was positively correlated with perinatal grief (r=0.637, P<0.05) and negatively correlated with self-esteem and social support (r=-0.585, P<0.05; r=-0.509, P<0.05). Age, education, gestational age, number of children, self-esteem, social support, and perinatal grief were the main factors influencing perinatal loss of female Stigma (P < 0.05). Conclusion Stigma among women with perinatal loss is at a moderate level. Older age, lower education level, larger gestational weeks of fetal loss, childlessness, lower self-esteem, poorer appreciation of social support, and greater perinatal sadness were the main factors influencing Stigma, which should be focused on by healthcare professionals, and intervention programmes to improve individual self-esteem and social support could be carried out in the future to alleviate the level of perinatal sadness and reduce the level of Stigma.

Perinatal loss; Self-esteem; Stigma; Social support; Grief