The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Perinatal Loss Experienced by the Parental Couple: Protocol for a Mixed Methods Study.

At the beginning of 2020, mothers and fathers who experienced perinatal events (from conception to pregnancy and postpartum period) found themselves facing problems related to the emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated difficulties for health care centers in providing care. In the unexpected and negative event of perinatal loss (ie, miscarriage, stillbirth, and neonatal death) more complications occurred. Perinatal loss is a painful and traumatic life experience that causes grief and can cause affective disorders in the parental couple-the baby dies and the couple's plans for a family are abruptly interrupted. During the COVID-19 pandemic, limited access to perinatal bereavement care, due to the lockdown measures imposed on medical health care centers and the social distancing rules to prevent contagion, was an additional risk factor for parental mental health, such as facing a prolonged and complicated grief. The main aims of this study are as follows: to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on mothers and fathers who experienced perinatal loss during the pandemic, comparing their perceptions; to evaluate their change over time between the first survey administration after bereavement and the second survey after 6 months; to examine the correlations between bereavement and anxiety, depression, couple satisfaction, spirituality, and sociodemographic variables; to investigate which psychosocial factors may negatively affect the mourning process; and to identify the potential predictors of the development o...