The association between religiousness and depressive symptoms was examined with meta-analytic methods across 147 independent investigations (N 98,975). Across all studies, the correlation between religiousness and depressive symptoms was –.096, indicating that greater religiousness is mildly associated with fewer symptoms. The results were not moderated by gender, age, or ethnicity, but the religiousness– depression association was stronger in studies involving people who were undergoing stress due to recent life events. The results were also moderated by the type of measure of religiousness used in the study, with extrinsic religious orientation and negative religious coping (e.g., avoiding difficulties through religious activities, blaming God for difficulties) associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms, the opposite direction of the overall findings.

/pdf/religiousness-and-depression-evidence-for-a-main-effect-and-3w9adtj1w8.pdf

Religiousness and depression: evidence for a main effect and the moderating influence of stressful life events.

The term: SID syndrome applies to sudden and unexpected death of the infant for which no diagnostic fetal factor has been found. It is also applied to sudden death of a less than one year old baby, the cause is not recognizable after complete post mortem study, and review of disease records. Such a death will be a very bitter and sorrowful experience for the family, therefor the nurses are bound to support the family both mentally and spiritually.

Sudden infant death syndrome

or challenge. These people, it is thought, are at points where growth or breakdo^11 may occur, and where short-term intervention is likely to have maximum impact. Th'j theory is central to the book, and has much to teach us, but offers such a convenieI1 framework for community planning that it could be accepted too uncritically. Of.. may doubt if these external crises are always the relevant ones, if the effect of cris'j intervention will not pass with the crisis, if we do not risk making some development3 stages more critical by anticipating difficulties. Although the author repudiates any idea of "government by psychiatrist", he sef

Principles of Preventive Psychiatry

The loss of an infant through stillbirth, miscarriage, or neonatal death is recognized as a traumatic life event. Predictors of development of complicated grief after prenatal loss include lack of social support, pre-existing relationship difficulties, or absence of surviving children, as well as ambivalent attitudes or heightened perception of the reality of the pregnancy. Risk of complicated grief was found to be especially high after termination of a pregnancy due to fetal abnormality. Studies have revealed that men and women show different patterns of grief, potentially exacerbating decline in a relationship. Although it is clear that prenatal loss has a large psychological impact, it is concluded that there is a substantial lack of randomized controlled studies in this field of research.

Complicated grief after perinatal loss.

Background Many women may suffer psychological symptoms after stillbirth and in the subsequent pregnancy. Stillbirth has not been demonstrated previously to be a stressor for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Aims To assess incidence, correlates and predictors of PTSD during and after the pregnancy following stillbirth.

Method A cohort study of pregnant women whose previous pregnancy ended in stillbirth.

Results PTSD symptoms were prevalent in the pregnancy following stillbirth. Case-level PTSD was associated with depression, state-anxiety and conception occurring closer to loss. Symptoms generally resolved naturally by 1 year post-partum (birth of healthy baby).

Conclusions Women are vulnerable to PTSD in the pregnancy subsequent to stillbirth, particularly when conception occurs soon after the loss.

/pdf/incidence-correlates-and-predictors-of-post-traumatic-stress-4daempftdf.pdf

Incidence, correlates and predictors of post-traumatic stress disorder in the pregnancy after stillbirth.

The mental health impact of stillbirth, neonatal death or SIDS: Prevalence and patterns of distress among mothers

There is an association between religion and health: those who are religious have healthier life-styles resulting in less physical illness and improved longevity. Some evidence shows that there may be a beneficial association between religion and psychological well-being. With bereavement, some may "turn to God" while others "turn away from God"; this occurrence may be reflected in their church attendance. In a prospective study, families who had experienced death from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, Neonatal Death, or Stillbirth were compared for anxiety, depression, and church attendance with control families who had not experienced such bereavement. A traditionally held belief that religion offers consolation for the grief of bereavement and that the bereaved "turn to God" as reflected in church attendance was not confirmed. There is the suggestion that the bereaved who attend church regularly have less anxiety and depression compared with the irregular or non-church attenders.

Church attendance, religious affiliation and parental responses to sudden infant death, neonatal death and stillbirth.

The behaviour of bereaved parents with respect to their drug and alcohol ingestion was examined 2 months following the loss of an infant from stillbirth (SB) neonatal death (NND) or sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Responses from bereaved families (99 SB, 109 NND, 52 SIDS) were compared with 252 control families (who had a liveborn infant). There was no difference in self-medication using aspirin as the example. The use of sedative drugs was significantly higher in all bereaved mothers (but especially the SIDS group). Use of sedatives by fathers was significantly higher only in the SIDS group. There was also a greater frequency of heavy drinking of mothers in all the bereaved groups and fathers in the SIDS group. These results have implications for the understanding and care of families following infant loss.

Alcohol and drug usage in parents soon after stillbirth, neonatal death or SIDS

There have been changing attitudes to death and grief in Western society in recent centuries. During the twentieth century complex medical and social changes have resulted in changing attitudes to and experiences with death. Specifically, the impact of death in childhood is reviewed. In recent decades sudden and unexpected death associated with stillbirth, the newborn and infants appears to have a more profound affect on the bereaved parents than in the past when the overall death rates in childhood were higher. The evolution of parent support groups developed since the 1960s to alleviate the psychological trauma of unexpected and sudden death in childhood has been traced. These groups were founded initially for support with sudden infant death syndrome and later extended to include families with stillbirth and neonatal death.

M. J. Thearle

Papers

The mental health impact of stillbirth, neonatal death or SIDS: Prevalence and patterns of distress among mothers

Church attendance, religious affiliation and parental responses to sudden infant death, neonatal death and stillbirth.

Alcohol and drug usage in parents soon after stillbirth, neonatal death or SIDS

Evolution of bereavement counselling in sudden infant death syndrome, neonatal death and stillbirth.