Online intervention program for perinatal loss

Around 3000 families experience perinatal loss each year in Australia. The loss of an infant to stillbirth or neonatal death is a potentially traumatic life event that is often associated with enduring psychological distress, including prolonged and complicated grief, and has profound effects on quality of life.

The care women and families receive following perinatal loss is a major contributor to long-term wellbeing. Improving perinatal bereavement care, including the care families receive in community after discharge from hospital, is an urgent priority in Australia.

This project aims to improve perinatal bereavement care for parents through the development and implementation of a new evidence-based online grief support program that addresses the psychological impacts of perinatal loss. The online program will be coupled with practice facilitation activities, including online educational resources, designed to enhance primary care practitioner skills in providing support and appropriate referral following perinatal loss.

Project investigators

Project investigators engage with and draw up on the expertise of partners within universities, research institutes, and hospital and health services across Queensland and Australia.

• Professor Vicki Flenady, Director, National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Centre for Research Excellence in Stillbirth (Stillbirth CRE) (Lead)

• Dr Siobhan Loughnan, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, NHMRC Centre for Research Excellence in Stillbirth (Stillbirth CRE)

• Associate Professor Fran Boyle, Research Social Scientist, Institute for Social Science Research UQ, NHMRC Stillbirth CRE

• Professor David Ellwood, Professor of Obstetrics & Gynaecology and Director of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Griffith University, Co-director, NHMRC Stillbirth CRE

• Associate Professor Dell Horey, Epidemiologist, La Trobe University, NHMRC Stillbirth CRE

• Associate Professor Emily Callander, Health Economist, School of Public Health and Preventative Medicine, Monash University, NHMRC Stillbirth CRE

• Professor Claire Jackson, Director Primary Care Research, Primary Care Clinical Unit Faculty of Medicine, UQ

• Ms Belinda Norman, Bereavement Midwife, Mater Mothers Hospital

• Ms Sara Crocker, Research Assistant, NHMRC Stillbirth CRE

• Ms Ann Lancaster, Psychologist, NHMRC Stillbirth CRE

• Dr Julie Dean, Psychologist and Social Scientist, Institute for Social Sciences Research, NHMRC Stillbirth CRE

• Dr Chrissie Astell, Senior Research Assistant, NHMRC Stillbirth CRE

• Ms Laura Singline, Research Support Officer, NHMRC Stillbirth CRE

• Ms Claudia Bull, Research Officer, School of Public Health and Preventative Medicine, Monash University

• Dr Antonia Shand, Maternal Fetal Medicine Specialist, Royal Hospital for Women

• Ms Leigh Brezler, CEO, Stillbirth Foundation Australia

• Ms Keren Ludski, CEO, Red Nose

• Ms Amanda Bowles, CEO, Bears of Hope