Search for meaning, finding meaning and adjustment in women following miscarriage: a longitudinal study.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to explore the associations between meaning making and psychological adjustment in 127 women who experienced a miscarriage.

DESIGN: A longitudinal and controlled study design was employed.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Meaning-making variables and distress outcomes were examined at four, seven and 16 weeks after miscarriage, in two groups of women, one who had medical investigations of the cause of their loss, and a control group receiving standard care.

RESULTS: Search for meaning was very common and it declined with time after miscarriage. By seven weeks post-loss, more than half the women reported that they had found meaning/understood why the miscarriage happened. Providing information about the cause of the loss was associated with finding meaning. A decline in the search for meaning and finding meaning at seven weeks post-miscarriage, predicted levels of distress at 16 weeks, whilst controlling for the initial distress and for significant background factors.

CONCLUSIONS: This study provides support for the notion that search for meaning is very common following negative life events, such as miscarriage, and that finding meaning is important in many peoples' process of adjustment. Providing information about the cause of the loss facilitates finding meaning.