44 - Men's responses to a miscarriage or still-birth - with Kate Obst

Two Shrinks Pod

44 - How do men respond to pregnancy loss? What is their experience? What supports do they need? And is it different to how women respond? This episode Hunter interviews Kate Obst whilst at that APS Health Psychology conference in Adelaide in April 2019 and she talks about men’s responses to a miscarriage or still-birth. This will be of interest to anyone (not just men) who is interested in grief and how we respond to the loss of a baby. Kate was awarded the prestigious Westpac Future Leaders Scholarship in 2018 and at the conference presented on her honours research. She is currently completing a combined PhD/Master degree where she is continuing to research this topic. In this interview Kate discusses her research findings and highlights the variability in response to pregnancy loss, the barriers men face to accessing support and some possible paths to improve the response of the health system for grieving parents.

The interview was recorded on location at the conference in what turned out to be a room that was a little noisy - there is a slight hum in the background - but it shouldn’t detract from the content of the episode.

Some relevant links:

Heartfelt foundation (photography for grieving families): https://www.heartfelt.org.au/

Sands Australia (miscarriage, stillbirth and neonatal death support) 24 hour support line: 1300 072 637

Sands men's support line appointments: https://www.sands.org.au/male-parent-supporters

Bears of Hope 24 hour grief support line: 1300 11 HOPE

Red Nose grief and loss 24 hour support line: 1300 308 307

Miracle Babies 24 hour NurtureLine for families with a baby currently in the NICU/SCN: 1300 622 243

Pillars of Strength (Australian-first organisation supporting bereaved dads to stillbirth, neonatal death and infant loss): http://pillarsofstrength.com.au/

Pink Elephants Support - they focus on infertility and miscarriage specifically. They are also rolling out a service called Fertility in the Workplace, encouraging organisations to better support staff RTW post loss. They also offer peer support. https://pinkelephantssupport.com/

For psychologists looking to do CPD there is a conference coming up in Melbourne in October 2019. Hosted by the centre for perinatal psychology. https://www.centreforperinatalpsychology.com.au/perinatal-loss-conference/?fbclid=IwAR33xyaalPdw535qvcbz994JBJexZ0NJX79qZTPaGmd3lcwHaTqYje4kUs0

Kate’s research:

Australian men's experiences of support following pregnancy loss: A qualitative study https://www.midwiferyjournal.com/article/S0266-6138(18)30343-7/fulltext

Australian heterosexual women’s experiences of healthcare provision following a pregnancy loss https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1871519217301142?via%3Dihub

Media articles about Kate’s research and supporting scholarship:

https://rubyconnection.com.au/insights/social-responsibility/pregnancy-loss-understanding-the-whole-familys-grief.aspx

https://familyincluded.com/category/pregnancy-loss/

Research profile : https://researchers.adelaide.edu.au/profile/kate.obst

Hunter on location at the APS Health Psych conference (in the noisy IT room) with Kate Obst