Pregnancy and Infant Loss: The Invisible Trauma and Grief

Despite the prevalence of pregnancy and infant loss, many nurses and healthcare providers report limited formal training in trauma-informed bereavement care, assessment of grief-related mental health conditions, and therapeutic communication with affected families. This gap contributes to inconsistent screening for depression, anxiety, PTSD, and complicated grief following reproductive loss, as well as variability in clinicians’ confidence and skill in providing compassionate, culturally responsive care. Education is needed to strengthen nurses’ knowledge of the psychological impact of perinatal loss, improve clinical communication skills, and enhance implementation of trauma-informed, patient-centered bereavement practices across care settings. Kelly Smedley has both professional and personal experience of infant loss. As a perinatal mental health certified provider, she has helped numerous women and families navigate grief and loss through miscarriage, stillbirth, and infant loss. 1 Contact hour is awarded for this program. This nursing continuing professional development activity was approved by the North Carolina Nurses Association, an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation