Practices of maternity nurses regarding perinatal bereavement care: a cross-sectional study

Pregnancy is often considered the happiest experience in a woman’s life. However, perinatal loss may sadly occur as one of its possible outcomes, which necessitates the provision of bereavement care by skilled nurses. Consequently, this study aimed to assess the practices of maternity nurses in terms of perinatal bereavement care. A descriptive cross-sectional study design, which utilized a convenient sample of 117 maternity nurses who worked at Mansoura University Hospital (MUH), Egypt, was used. Data were collected throughout February to April 2025 via a structured interview questionnaire, which consisted of two parts, including the general and professional characteristics of maternity nurses and maternity nurses’ self- reported practices regarding perinatal bereavement care. Pearson’s chi-square test (x²) was used, the Fisher exact test (FE) was used when possible. The study findings revealed that 73.5% of the studied maternity nurses had a satisfactory level of practice regarding perinatal bereavement care. Notably, 0.0% of them used the partogram during labor. Furthermore, only 17.1% of them allowed skin-to-skin contact with the dead baby. Although maternity nurses generally reported a satisfactory level of practice regarding perinatal bereavement care, some deficiencies were reported during the intrapartum period.