INTRODUCTION: There is a lack of knowledge in women's and men's experience of miscarriage. The Revised Impact of Miscarriage Scale (RIMS) has been used in United States to measure the experiences after miscarriage. The first objective was to test the consistency of RIMS for Swedish conditions. The second purpose of this study was to compare Swedish and American couples' experience of miscarriage by use of the RIMS.

METHODS: Forward and back translation was used for translating RIMS into Swedish. This is a hospital-based comparative study including Swedish couples (n = 70) and American couples (n = 70). The couples were matched by the women's age, week of miscarriage and number of children. All participants answered socio-demographic, fertility and depression-scale questions in addition to RIMS.

RESULTS: Cronbach's alpha analysis was above 0.650, the mean value was 0.824. There was no significant difference between the Swedish and American participants on the factors 'Isolation/Guilt' and 'Devastating event', but the Swedish women and men scored significantly lower on the factor 'Loss of baby' than the American women and men. The men, Swedish and American combined, scored lower than the women in all factors but the correlation within the couples was similar for both Swedish and American couples.

CONCLUSIONS: The high consistency between the countries suggests that the RIMS questionnaire is reliable for both women and men to be used in both countries and two of three factors were similar between the two countries.

Objective: Although miscarriage is common and affects up to 20 % of pregnant women, little is known about these couples’ short term and long term experiences after miscarriage.The aim of the present study was to study emotional experience, grief and depressive symptoms in women and men,one week and four months after miscarriage. Research design /setting:Women, (n=103), and their male partner (n=78), were recruited at the gynecological clinic after miscarriage. Control women were recruitedfrom the general population.Three validated questionnaires concerning psychological wellbeing and mental health, RIMS, PGS and MADRS-S were answered by the participants one week and four months after the miscarriage. Findings: It was shown that for women, the emotional experiences of miscarriage, grief and depressive symptoms were more pronounced than for their male partners. Grief and depressive symptoms were reduced with time, which was not the case for the emotional experiences of miscarriage. Previous children was favorable for emotional experience while previous miscarriage or infertility treatment made the emotional experience worse. Conclusion: Grief and depressive symptoms is reducedover time while emotional experiences such as isolation, loss of baby and a devastating event persist for longer time than four months. Lack of previous children, previous miscarriageand infertility diagnosis could increase negative emotional experiencesafter miscarriage, this was especially pronounced for grief reaction.The questionnaires could be used both clinically and in research to understand the emotional experiences after miscarriage.

INTRODUCTION: Women with miscarriage experience several negative emotional feelings such as grief, isolation, coping, and despair. However, less is known about how the type of treatment and diagnosis of miscarriage influence the emotional experience.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: The present study was a randomized prospective longitudinal cohort study, in which women with spontaneous miscarriage (n = 35), and women with missed miscarriage (n = 67), were included to answer 3 validated questionnaires: Revised Impact of Miscarriage Scale, Perinatal Grief Scale, and Montgomery and Åsberg Depression Rating Scale, concerning experience of miscarriage, psychological well-being, and mental health 1 week and 4 months after finalized treatment.

RESULTS: There was no difference between the 2 diagnosis groups in feelings as measured by Revised Impact of Miscarriage Scale, Montgomery and Åsberg Depression Rating Scale, and Perinatal Grief Scale 1 week after the miscarriage. However, the psychological well-being improved significantly 4 months after the miscarriage. Separated by treatment, women treated with misoprostol alone had more depressive symptoms than women treated with misoprostol and subsequent vacuum aspiration.

CONCLUSIONS: It can be concluded that diagnosis of miscarriage had limited influence on the experiences of miscarriage, but shorter duration of treatment with misoprostol and subsequent vacuum aspiration resulted in fewer depressive symptoms.

OBJECTIVES: The aim was to describe midwives' and nurses' experiences when women are diagnosed with a missed miscarriage during a routine ultrasound scan in pregnancy weeks 18-20.

STUDY DESIGNS: A qualitative content analysis with an inductive approach and 13 semi-structured interviews were used for data collection from these three domains: midwives at an ultrasound department, midwives at a maternity clinic and nurses at a gynecological ward. Content analysis resulted in six codes, four categories and one primary theme.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The four categories identified were: the interviewees' experiences of women's reactions, support from the midwife and nurse, the interviewees' experiences of men's reactions and communication between care providers and women. The main theme focused on the interviewees' noting that women had a premonition that something was wrong with their pregnancy. This could for example have been in the form of minor bleeding or the fact that pregnancy symptoms had receded and there were no movements by the fetus. The midwives carried out a follow-up with assessment.

CONCLUSIONS: Women need confirmation of their premonitions of a missed miscarriage so that a diagnosis can be made as early as possible in their pregnancy. Women and their partners who have suffered a missed miscarriage need extended support on an individual basis in addition to follow-up assistance as assessed by the midwives.