Father's Experience on the Incident of Newborn Death: A Scoping Review

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background: The death of a child is a painful experience for parents. The distress of bereaved fathers remained inadequately understood since most of the existing studies had concentrated mainly on the mothers’ experience. This scoping review aimed to investigate the fathers’ experience on the incident of newborn death. Subjects and Method: A scoping review method was conducted in eight stages including (1) Identification of study problems; (2) Determining priority problem and study question; (3) Determining framework; (4) Literature searching; (5) Article selec­tion; (6) Critical appraisal; (7) Data extraction; and (8) Mapping. The research question was identified using population, exposure, and outcome(s) (PEOS) framework. The search included PubMed, Wiley Online Library, Science Direct, ProQuest, EBSCO, gray literature through the Google Scholar search engine databases. The inclusion criteria were English-language and primary studied full-text articles published between 2010 and 2019. A total of 307 articles were obtained by the searched database. After the review process, seven articles were eligible for this review. The data were reported by the PRISMA flow chart. Results: A total of 307 articles were obtained by the searched databases. After screening, 55,052 articles were excluded because of 54,847 articles with irrelevant topics, 22 book review articles, and 183 duplicate articles. Of the remaining 88 articles, only 18 articles met the inclusion criteria. After conducting critical appraisal, a total of six articles from developed countries (Australia, Sweden, Spain, and Columbia) with qualitative studies was selected to further review. This review emphasized three main topics about experiences of fathers after the death of the newborn, namely psychological conditions and coping behaviors of fathers, and supportive care from health professionals. Conclusion: Further support and care of health professionals need to focus on fathers’ experience of grief following newborn death, especially on their physical and mental well-being. Keywords: newborn death, father experience, health professionals, coping behaviors Correspondence: Dwi Reza Wahyuni. Universitas ‘Aisyiyah Yogyakarta. Jl. Ringroad Barat No. 63, Mlangi Nogotirto, Gamping, Sleman, Yogyakarta. Email: dwiejakwahyuni@gmail.com. Mobile: +6282211318785. DOI: https://doi.org/10.26911/the7thicph.03.63