ABSTRACT
For many women, a miscarriage is an unanticipated, undesirable and physically stressful event that signals an abrupt dislocation in their reproductive plans. It may trigger a woman's doubts about her reproductive competence and thereby provoke a loss of self-esteem. The study of depression following miscarriage bridges three separate fields of epidemiologic endeavour: life events research, loss and bereavement and psychiatric disorders associated with reproduction. The first is to determine whether women's rates of depressive symptoms and disorders are elevated in the six months following a miscarriage. Physical sequelae of the miscarriage, such as discharge, bleeding and backache, are examined over the course of the study. A Miscarriage Grief Scale, developed and piloted in this study, focuses on phantom symptoms of pregnancy, the woman's longing to nurture the child and continued mental preparation for the baby's arrival. National surveys of telephone service indicate that a considerable proportion of persons below the poverty line have home telephones.
