Taboo subject of miscarriage? - Anchoring through mechanisms at the medical, social, and organisational level "It broke my heart and that's just the way it is ..."

Abstract

Miscarriage is the most common complication of pregnancy. In this work, the experiences associated with miscarriage and their relevance for the women are analysed on different levels. In May 2023, 14 guided interviews were conducted with women. The text material obtained will be brought to a higher level of abstraction using Mayring's content analysis approach and then interpreted. The results of the study underpin the significance of a miscarriage as a dramatic experience and the assumption of a broad taboo experienced as stressful. The deliberately chosen exchange among like-minded people, the concealment of the pregnancy and subsequently the miscarriage for reasons of shame, self-protection from professional disadvantages, and the assumption of overburdening the partner do not weigh as heavily as those mechanisms that operate in the health sector: at this level, mistrust, trivialisation and organisational and spatial inadequacies contribute to tabooing. The stressful circumstance of miscarriage is cushioned by people who recognise the grief and offer support. Based on the results of the study, improvements can be derived primarily in the area of care: Recognition of miscarriage, needs-based support services, improvement of communicative elements and organisational and spatial framework conditions.