The Meaning of Hope in the Experience of Prenatal Loss for the First Time: A Phenomenological Study with Drawings

INTRODUCTION: Understanding the experiences of women who have experienced prenatal loss for the first time is important to structuring nursing care with a meaning-oriented approach and empowering these women. The aim of this research is to examine the emotions, thoughts, and experiences of women who experience prenatal loss and the meaning they place in hope.
METHODS: The sample of this research in a descriptive phenomenological design consists of 17 women who experienced prenatal loss for the first time after a planned and desired pregnancy. The data were collected between July 2017 and January 2019 with individual in-depth interviews, semi-structured interview form with personal information, and observation notes drawing guide. The data were analyzed by the thematic analysis method of Braun and Clarke.
RESULTS: From the analysis, 4 themes, 12 sub-themes, and 17 drawings were obtained. The themes were determined as “traumatic pregnancy and childbirth,” “meeting the inevitable end,” “forced farewell,” and “picture of hope.”
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Within this research, it was found that the experiences of women in the prenatal loss for the first time ranged between being hopeful and living together with hope and hopelessness. The prenatal loss was the loss of the future, hopes, and dreams about the baby and becoming a mother.