Therapeutic Communication Training in Perinatal Loss: Simulation-Based Approaches

This study aims to evaluate the effect of simulation-based education on nursing students' therapeutic communication skills in managing perinatal loss. Perinatal loss, defined as early fetal loss before 20 weeks of gestation and late fetal loss at or after 20 weeks, is a traumatic experience that significantly impacts parents, especially mothers, on biological, psychological, social, and spiritual levels. Prolonged grief reactions can lead to complicated grief, anxiety, depression, hopelessness, and relationship disturbances. Nursing students are trained to adopt a biopsychosocial approach in patient care and are expected to support grieving individuals by normalizing emotions, identifying coping strategies, and facilitating healthy grief processing. Simulation is recognized as an effective teaching method in developing communication and therapeutic skills among nursing students. This research investigates how simulation-based training can enhance students' therapeutic communication competencies when supporting individuals experiencing perinatal loss.