The Effects of High-Fidelity Bereavement Simulation on Perinatal Nurse Attitude and Comfort with Providing Bereavement Care for Patients Experiencing Perinatal Loss

Perinatal loss is a global phenomenon that requires holistic and individualized care of patients. Nurses are responsible for providing most bereavement care after the loss of a pregnancy or infant; however, nurses commonly experience a lack of education and exposure to ways to promote high-quality bereavement care, leading to nurse discomfort providing perinatal bereavement care. The purpose of the study is to examine if high-fidelity perinatal bereavement simulation is an effective method to increase nurse comfort and improve nurse attitudes toward providing perinatal bereavement care. Data was collected using a quantitative quasi-experimental one-group pretest-posttest research design using a sample of perinatal nurses (n=20) from the same healthcare network who have access to the same bereavement education opportunities and apply the same perinatal bereavement protocols. Data collection was completed through Qualtrics using the BEACONNS instrument (Engler et al., 2004; see Appendix A). SPSS 29.0 was used for data analysis and paired-samples t-tests were completed for both perinatal nurse attitudes and nurse comfort providing perinatal bereavement care. A statistically significant increase in both perinatal nurse attitudes (p < .001) and comfort (p < .001) levels was found after participation in a high-fidelity perinatal bereavement simulation. The results of the study led to the conclusion that high-fidelity perinatal bereavement simulation can be an effective educational method to increase perinatal nurse comfort and attitudes toward providing perinatal bereavement care. Recommendations for future research include studying a larger sample of perinatal nurses and the application of high-fidelity simulation to other rare medical events.