Annually, in the United States, more than one million women experience perinatal loss (Blackmore et al., 2011; Kinsey, Baptiste‐Roberts, Zhu, & Kjerulff, 2013). Perinatal loss includes miscarriage, which is the spontaneous termination of an intrauterine pregnancy before the 20
th week of gestation, and stillbirth, which is the loss of pregnancy after the 20
th week of gestation and/or during delivery (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2017; Hutti, Armstrong, Myers, & Hall, 2015). Miscarriage affects approximately one in five pregnancies (McCarthy et al., 2015; Devlin, Huberty, & Downs, 2016; Redford & Hughes, 2015; Adolfsson, Johansson, & Nilsson, 2012) and is the most common type of perinatal loss. The prevalence of miscarriage increases with maternal age, reaching an estimated 75% increase in women 40 years of age and older (Maconochie, Doyle, Prior, & Simmons, 2007; Robinson, 2014; Ockhuijsen, van den Hoogen, Boivin, Macklon, & de Boer, 2014). Between 50% and 80% of women who have experienced perinatal loss become pregnant again (Blackmore et al., 2011; Al-Maharma, Abujaradeh, Mahmoud, & Jarrad, 2016) and approximately 1% to 5% experience recurrent miscarriage (Ockhuijsen, van den Hoogen, Boivin, Macklon, & de Boer, 2015; Musters et al., 2013).
A positive pregnancy test of a planned conception is most often celebrated. However, for women with a history of perinatal loss, this celebration is sometimes overshadowed by cascaded emotions of grief, fear, anxiety, and depression. The repercussions of these emotions may affect the course of subsequent pregnancy, the overall health of the pregnant mother-to-be, and the maternal-child relationship and attachment that ensues after the pregnancy. To promote adaptive behaviors, this project aimed to develop a Website that provides evidence-based information and support available for pregnant women with a history of perinatal loss. Roy’s Adaptation Model (2009) was utilized as the theoretical framework and key concepts of Lazarus and Folkman’s (1984) Cognitive-Transactional Theory of Stress and Coping were explored. Five content experts voluntarily participated in the review of the Website for content validity.
