准父母不会预期出生和死亡会发生碰撞。但是，是数百万个家庭每年在全球范围内，由于流产，死产或新生儿死亡在生命的前28天内导致婴儿死亡，这是一个毁灭性的现实。

Historically, parents’ grief over these losses remained未被承认。在过去的几十年中，对悲伤的情感负担的研究导致了敏感的医疗保健andpsychosocial supportfor families. However, bereaved parents continue to reportstigma和社会规范which can minimize their loss.

男子和婴儿损失

男人是在creasingly involved在怀孕和分娩中。然而，当婴儿在出生之前或出生后不久死亡时，我们对男人的悲伤的了解仍然有限。大多数以前的研究和随后的丧亲护理指南都集中在异性妇女的经历上，尽管男人报告了感觉被忽略了要么 'forgotten’作为悲伤的父亲。作为一个父亲our earlier research描述：

“Every time I’d get a text from my friends the text was like how’s [female partner]? […] but you know, the father is just as upset even though he doesn’t necessarily show it in the same way”（约翰，死产婴儿的父亲）

因此，要在怀孕/新生儿丧失后对男性的悲伤有更全面的理解，我们最近的系统评价，，，，published inBMC老年人，总结了有关男人如何经历悲伤以及导致男性悲伤的因素的现有研究。

‘It’s complicated’

我们的搜索确定了46项相关研究。悲伤是高度个性的，但是，男人似乎面临特定的挑战，这些挑战可能会使他们的悲伤变得复杂或延迟，并且与女性的经历不同。

我们需要更广泛的策略和政策，以承认男人是悲伤的父亲。

例如，有一个普遍的趋势，以更多针对问题的应对策略，例如“保持忙碌”或使用包括活动或工作在内的干扰。无助和无能为力的感觉也很普遍，以及照顾其他孩子，完成文书工作，组织葬礼/葬礼的责任，并告知家人和朋友损失。重要的是，表达自己的悲伤和“坚强”以支持其女性伴侣和家人之间也存在紧张关系。

在比较男性和女人的研究中，男性在悲伤措施上的得分通常比女性低。但是，重要的是，我们目前衡量悲伤​​的方式可能无法捕捉到男人的悲伤的复杂性。几项研究强调，常用措施可能对男人可能表现出的悲伤风格的差异不敏感（例如，“做”与“感觉”）。

四个级别

The factors affecting grief varied across studies. Broadly, we grouped these factors into four different levels: individual, interpersonal, community, and public policy.

At the individual level, factors included men’s personality, their demographic background, and their attachment to the unborn or newborn baby. In general, men who had developed a strong bond with their baby experienced more intense grief.

在人际关系层面上，家人，朋友和医疗保健专业人员的支持和认可对于确定男人表达和应对悲伤的能力至关重要。缺乏认可或支持导致孤立感，这使悲伤恶化。

At the community level, cultural norms relating to grief and masculinity ideals often led men to feel as though they needed to be the “strong one” or “supporter” to their female partner, rather than a grieving father. This role often took precedence over men’s own needs.

最后，与工作场所丧亲假的政策以及以女性为中心的怀孕和产妇护理的性质，有可能有助于男人的孤立感。Three studies identified that a lack of bereavement leave options for men impacted upon how well they were able to work through their grief, and in seven studies, a focus solely on women’s health, especially in the hospital environment, left many men feeling removed and unsupported.

A broader concept of grief

Given this range of factors that appear to affect grief, we have proposed a socio-ecological model of men’s grief, which recognizes that grief does not exist in isolation. Rather, it is shaped by a complex system of interacting factors and levels. Without strategies to address factors at each level, we risk increasing men’s isolation and decreasing both perceived and real access to support.

While individual grief counselling and support groups are important, we also need wider strategies and policies that recognise men as grieving fathers. Suggestions include hospital programs that genuinely engage with fathers and promote an equal partnership throughout pregnancy and childbirth; campaigns to raise awareness of the impact of pregnancy/neonatal loss on families, including men; and evaluating current workplace policies for bereavement leave, to afford men equal opportunity to mourn their loss and access appropriate psychosocial supports.