Experience of donating breastmilk within the process of grief
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Bereaved mothers’ experience of donating breastmilk within the process of grief: an interpretative phenomenological study
IRAS ID
289894
Contact name
Pauline Adair
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Queen's University Belfast
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 3 months, 30 days
Research summary
Maternal grief has been shown to produce many difficult emotions such as envy, jealousy and guilt (Erlandsson et al. 2011). Whilst there are many ways grieving can be assisted i.e. having strong social support and finding positive coping strategies, this study aims to explore mother’s experience of donating breastmilk in the process of grief and how this might shape mothers’ understanding of their loss.
Those eligible for the study will be mothers who have suffered the death of an infant either in late pregnancy or early infancy and who have donated their breastmilk following this loss. It is hoped that interviews will take place within the homes of participants, additionally, the option of remote interviews (telephone/video) will be made available in light of COVID UK Government guidelines. The participants will undergo a semi-structured interview which will last no longer than 90 minutes. A distress protocol will be utilised as and when necessary.
Through undertaking this research, we hope to gain a deeper understanding of perinatal loss and how breastmilk donation influences the grieving process. We will use an interpretive phenomenological analytic approach to gain an insider’s perspective whilst asking the question; ‘What is a bereaved mothers experience of donating breastmilk within the process of grief?’.REC name
HSC REC B
REC reference
21/NI/0029
Date of REC Opinion
26 Feb 2021
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion