School of Psychology, Department of Psychological Interventions, University of Surrey, GU2 7XH, Guildford, UK.
South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK.
BMC Pregnancy Childbirth. 2022 Oct 29;22(1):798. doi: 10.1186/s12884-022-05091-2.
Globally, a large proportion of birthing mothers, and a to a lesser extent their partners, experience birth trauma each year, and yet access to adequate post-natal trauma support is rarely available. Untreated birth trauma has been shown to negatively impact the family in terms of the parents' relationship with one another, and long-term negative consequences for the child. Despite a drive towards integrating mental health support into maternity services and a call to provide mental health support for couples rather than solely the birthing mother, there is little research exploring what birthing couples find helpful in recovery from birth trauma. The current research interviewed six couples using an Interpretative Phenomenological Approach in order to explore their understanding of what supported their recovery from birth trauma. Four themes were identified: 'We need validation', 'Feeling paper thin', 'This is a system failure' and 'Birth trauma is always going to be a part of you'. The data describes an understanding of parents' feelings of vulnerability and loss of trust in services to provide support following birth trauma. Further, parents' need for validation and repositioning of control away from healthcare professionals when considering the availability and knowledge of the support options available is discussed. Clinical implications for supporting parents following birth trauma are explored, including an identified need for trauma informed care communication training for all healthcare professionals involved in maternity care, and the requirement for sources of therapeutic support external from the parent dyad in order to maintain the couples' interpersonal relationship.
在全球范围内，每年都有很大比例的产妇，在一定程度上还有她们的伴侣，经历分娩创伤，但很少有足够的产后创伤支持。未得到治疗的分娩创伤会对家庭产生负面影响，影响父母之间的关系，并对孩子造成长期的负面影响。尽管人们努力将心理健康支持纳入产妇服务，并呼吁为夫妇提供心理健康支持，而不仅仅是为产妇提供支持，但很少有研究探讨分娩夫妇在从分娩创伤中恢复时觉得什么是有帮助的。目前的研究使用解释现象学方法采访了六对夫妇，以探讨他们对支持从分娩创伤中恢复的理解。确定了四个主题：“我们需要确认”、“感觉脆弱”、“这是系统故障”和“分娩创伤将永远是你的一部分”。这些数据描述了父母在经历分娩创伤后对自己脆弱和失去对服务提供支持的信任的理解。此外，还讨论了父母在考虑支持选项的可用性和知识时对确认和重新定位控制权的需求，这种控制权不再来自医疗保健专业人员。探讨了支持分娩后父母的临床意义，包括确定需要为参与产妇护理的所有医疗保健专业人员提供创伤知情护理沟通培训，以及需要在父母对子以外的治疗支持来源，以维持夫妻之间的人际关系。
