Keeble Christina J, Loi Natasha M, Thorsteinsson Einar B
School of Psychology, University of New England, Armidale, NSW, Australia.
Front Psychol. 2018 Aug 31;9:1629. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01629. eCollection 2018.
Stillbirth devastates families and leaves them struggling to grieve the death of their baby in a society that expects grief symptoms to decrease over time. Previous research has suggested that increased memory sharing opportunities can lead to positive mental health outcomes. The aim of the current study was to examine people's perceptions of stillbirth as well as the perceived appropriateness of affected parents sharing memories of their child. In addition, we examined whether manipulating empathy would have an effect on people's perceptions of stillbirth. Participants included 200 Australian men and women 18 to 74 years of age ( = 36.76, = 12.59) randomly allocated to one of three experimental conditions (i.e., low empathy, high empathy, and control). The high empathy group watched a video about stillbirth and was instructed to imagine how the people portrayed felt; the low empathy group watched the same video but was instructed to remain detached; and the control group watched an unrelated video. Participants were then asked how much money they would be willing to donate to a fictional stillbirth organization, followed by the completion of questionnaires measuring (a) perceptions of stillbirth, (b) empathy, and (c) the appropriateness of parents sharing memories of a stillborn child with different groups of people over time. The empathy manipulation had an effect on empathy and the willingness to help effected parents (high empathy vs. control). However, empathy did not have an effect on participants' perceptions toward stillbirth nor appropriateness of sharing memories. The appropriateness of sharing memories decreased as time passed and social distance increased. Individuals who have experienced stillbirth need to be aware that societal expectations and their own expectations in relation to sharing memories may not correspond to each other and that they may need to educate their social group about their need to share memories. Removing the taboo surrounding stillbirth is vital for both parents and those to whom they would wish to communicate.
死产会给家庭带来巨大打击，让他们在一个期望悲伤症状随时间减轻的社会中，艰难地为夭折的孩子悲痛。先前的研究表明，增加记忆分享机会可带来积极的心理健康结果。本研究的目的是考察人们对死产的看法，以及受影响父母分享孩子记忆的感知适宜性。此外，我们还考察了操控同理心是否会影响人们对死产的看法。参与者包括200名年龄在18至74岁之间的澳大利亚男女（平均年龄 = 36.76岁，标准差 = 12.59岁），他们被随机分配到三个实验条件之一（即低同理心、高同理心和对照组）。高同理心组观看了一段关于死产的视频，并被要求想象视频中人物的感受；低同理心组观看相同的视频，但被要求保持冷漠；对照组观看一段无关的视频。然后，参与者被问及他们愿意向一个虚构的死产组织捐赠多少钱，接着完成问卷，测量（a）对死产的看法，（b）同理心，以及（c）随着时间推移，父母与不同人群分享死产孩子记忆的适宜性。同理心操控对同理心以及帮助受影响父母的意愿产生了影响（高同理心组与对照组相比）。然而，同理心对参与者对死产的看法以及分享记忆的适宜性没有影响。随着时间推移和社会距离增加，分享记忆的适宜性降低。经历过死产的个体需要意识到，社会期望以及他们自己关于分享记忆的期望可能并不一致，他们可能需要向自己的社交圈子说明分享记忆的需求。消除围绕死产的禁忌对父母以及他们希望与之交流的人都至关重要。
