Internetbasierte Therapie nach Verlust eines Kindes in der Schwangerschaft – Einfluss sozialer Unterstützung auf die Verarbeitung des Verlusts

Internet-Based Therapy after Pregnancy Loss – the Impact of Social Support on Bereavement Background: The loss of a child during pregnancy poses a severe psychological strain for the parents concerned and can lead to manifest mental illness. Various studies have shown that perceived social support by the environment of those affected by a prenatal child loss goes along with less prolonged grief symptoms. Method: We investigated 99 parents who had lost their child during pregnancy. They took part in a 5-week internet-based treatment program for writing therapy, which included the 3 phases «confrontation», «cognitive restructuring», and «social sharing». In addition to general psychological distress (BSI), prolonged grief (ICG), and traumatic stress (IES-R) social support (BSSS) was evaluated with the dimensions «perceived support» and «received support» and «need for support» and «seeking support» both at the time before and after treatment. Results: While the need for social support significantly decreased in the course of treatment, the values of the other 3 dimensions of social support increased significantly. The perceived and the received social support were significantly inversely associated with general psychological distress and prolonged grief after a prenatal loss. Received support and seeking support were associated with the improvement of several symptoms after the internet-based treatment. Conclusion: The results indicate that both the received support and actively seeking support are relevant for the effectiveness of the internet-based treatment program for those affected by the loss of a child. Moreover, the internet-based treatment program presented here can offer a good support option after prenatal loss of a child and contribute to activation of seeking support. Schlüsselwörter Internetbasierte Psychotherapie · Pränatalverlust · Soziale Unterstützung · Schreibtherapie