Paternal care during miscarriage: A concept analysis

ABSTRACT

@#Caring is the fundamental essence of nursing practice. Swanson's theory of caring provides the process of care for women who have experienced miscarriage. However, there is a gap in theory and knowledge in providing care to fathers experiencing a miscarriage. Studies have shown that the experience of fathers during a miscarriage is different from their wives. According to Jones et al (2019), fathers' experience during a neonatal loss is different from their partners. They feel isolated. Thus, men feel that they are disconnected from their partners, and also are not involved in the caring process, are overwhelmed by the situation, fathers feel that the role fathers play as a protector for their partner was not done well and they experience a lack of support from healthcare providers during that period. This concept of paternal care during a miscarriage is to help fathers who are experiencing neonatal loss by applying the appropriate nursing action to provide the necessary nursing care. The concept analysis methodology from Walker and Avant (2005) would define the concept, attributes, antecedents, consequences, cases, and empirical referent on paternal care during a miscarriage. This paper concludes that providing paternal care to fathers during miscarriage helps them deal with the loss and understand the process they are going through. Therefore, there is a need to develop a theory that provides the care process to fathers going through a miscarriage. Hence, the theory of paternal care during a miscarriage is proposed.