The psychological consequences of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) for the family system: A systematic review

Gabriella Gandino; Alessia Diecidue; Annalisa Sensi; Ester Maria Venera; Sarah Finzi; Cristina Civilotti; Fabio Veglia; Giulia Di Fini

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1085944

The psychological consequences of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) for the family system: A systematic review

Front Psychol. 2023 Feb 23:14:1085944. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1085944. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Gabriella Gandino^{1

2}, Alessia Diecidue¹, Annalisa Sensi^{1

2}, Ester Maria Venera¹, Sarah Finzi¹, Cristina Civilotti¹, Fabio Veglia¹, Giulia Di Fini¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.
² SUID and SIDS Italia Onlus, Turin, Italy.

Abstract

The Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is a tragic and difficult experience for families. It involves not only the death of the baby but also the loss of a future as a parent, sibling or grandparent. The subsequent grief is multifaceted and each family member has different needs and resources. Through a systematic review of literature, we identified 24 studies between 1982 and 2021: they dealt with individual, family and couple experience when a SIDS occurs; in addition, some studies compared perinatal loss and neonatal loss with SIDS loss. Our results point out the need for an intervention that focuses on the needs of each family member and tailored around the specifics of SIDS loss rather than general grief.

Keywords: couple grief; family grief; individual grief; psychological impact; sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS); systematic review.

Publication types

Systematic Review