Community, Connection and Women’s Wellbeing After Perinatal Loss
Tracks
Tamborine Gallery
| Tuesday, September 1, 2026 |
| 1:50 PM - 2:10 PM |
Overview
Aditi Lohan, The University Of Queensland
Three Key Learnings
1. Women’s distress following perinatal loss is shaped as much by social and system responses as by the experience of loss itself.
2. The most accessed supports are not always the most helpful.
Peer support and grief‑literate community responses are often more effective than commonly used but poorly attuned supports.
3. Proactive transitions from formal to community care and grief‑literate communities are essential to women’s well-being across many contexts.
Using perinatal loss as a case example, the presentation will offer transferable lessons for supporting women through other forms of loss and major life disruptions.
Speaker
Dr Aditi Lohan
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
The University Of Queensland
Community, connection and women’s well-being after perinatal loss
Abstract
Perinatal loss—including miscarriage, stillbirth, and neonatal death—is experienced by thousands of women in Australia each year often with profound psychosocial consequences. For many women, support around perinatal loss can be difficult to navigate both within healthcare settings and beyond. As contact with hospitals ceases, women are often left to navigate distress and recovery within families, workplaces, and communities. How these environments respond can play a critical role in shaping women’s immediate and longer-term well-being.
This presentation draws on national research examining support needs and experiences following the loss of a baby or child. An online survey was completed by 471 bereaved parents and family members, the majority (97%) of whom were mothers. Twenty‑five follow‑up interviews were conducted with parents (16 mothers) and family members to explore experiences of support in greater depth.
Bereaved parents accessed an average of six different types of support. However, supports that were most commonly accessed were not always experienced as the most helpful. Qualitative findings showed that support was most valued when it offered understanding, validation, and opportunities to connect with others who could acknowledge and normalise loss related distress. In contrast, silence, minimisation, and fragmented pathways often intensified isolation and compounded distress.
Rather than centring distress as an individual or clinical problem, the findings highlight how women’s well-being is shaped by social responses, continuity of care, and access to empathetic, informed support beyond formal healthcare settings. While grounded in experiences of perinatal loss, these findings have clear relevance for women’s coping following other forms of loss and disruptions. Practical implications for improving transitions from formal to community care and strengthening community-wide grief literacy will be discussed in the context of public health model of bereavement care.
This presentation draws on national research examining support needs and experiences following the loss of a baby or child. An online survey was completed by 471 bereaved parents and family members, the majority (97%) of whom were mothers. Twenty‑five follow‑up interviews were conducted with parents (16 mothers) and family members to explore experiences of support in greater depth.
Bereaved parents accessed an average of six different types of support. However, supports that were most commonly accessed were not always experienced as the most helpful. Qualitative findings showed that support was most valued when it offered understanding, validation, and opportunities to connect with others who could acknowledge and normalise loss related distress. In contrast, silence, minimisation, and fragmented pathways often intensified isolation and compounded distress.
Rather than centring distress as an individual or clinical problem, the findings highlight how women’s well-being is shaped by social responses, continuity of care, and access to empathetic, informed support beyond formal healthcare settings. While grounded in experiences of perinatal loss, these findings have clear relevance for women’s coping following other forms of loss and disruptions. Practical implications for improving transitions from formal to community care and strengthening community-wide grief literacy will be discussed in the context of public health model of bereavement care.
Biography
Dr Aditi Lohan is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at The University of Queensland’s Institute for Social Science Research. With a background in Clinical Psychology, her work focuses on understanding and improving people’s experiences of health services and systems. Her research interests include using qualitative methods in areas such as, perinatal wellbeing, bereavement, and the social determinants of health. Aditi has worked closely on a number of evaluation projects for government and community partners to translate research into practice and inform service design, policy, and improved support for families and communities.
