Abstract

Stillbirth is one of the most difficult areas in obstetrics. There was little known about how the death of a baby might impact on the faith of obstetricians. This qualitative study sought to examine if the death of a baby before birth had an impact on the faith of obstetricians. We conducted indepth interviews for the study with consultant obstetricians. The results showed that stillbirth was one of the most difficult experiences for obstetricians in their practice. The participating consultants shared that they were unable to engage with their personal faith beliefs at work and separated out their personal and work lives when dealing with death at work. The results revealed that obstetricians experienced a personal conflict between their personal faith and their professional practice. The results also highlighted that obstetricians were unable to draw from their own faith/spirituality (where it was present) to offer support in this way to bereaved parents.