A forthcoming special issue of Survive and Thrive will feature stories written by survivors of perinatal loss, their loved ones, their healthcare providers and other support workers, and scholars from interdisciplinary fields.

Perinatal loss is commonly defined as loss of an infant through death via unintended or involuntary loss of pregnancy by miscarriage, early loss (less than 20 weeks), stillbirth (> 20 weeks gestation), or neonatal loss (newborn through 28 days of life).  According to Kimberly Fenstermacher and Judith E. Hupcey, “Prior to the 1970s, the death of a baby, whether by miscarriage, stillbirth, or neonatal death, was not viewed by the medical community as a meaningful loss; thus there was little acknowledgment of the phenomenon of perinatal bereavement.” (Fenstermacher, Kimberly, and Judith E. Hupcey. "Perinatal bereavement: a principle‐based concept analysis." Journal of advanced nursing 69.11 (2013): 2389-2400.)

In the decades since, social scientific and psychological researchers have identified multiple ways to describe and quantify perinatal grief, including the Perinatal Grief Intensity Scale, the Perinatal Bereavement Grief Scale (PBGS), the Perinatal Bereavement Scale (PBS), and the Perinatal Grief Scale (PGS).  Less space has been made in the literature for the place of story in communicating what perinatal loss is and feels like, for surviving parents, their family and community.  

This issue of Survive and Thrive, then, invites contributions on the experience of perinatal loss from health care providers, caregivers, families, scholars, and activists, whose lives have been touched by perinatal loss.  We welcome writing in genres from poem to scholarly treatise to video. We seek a diversity of voices of every background.  

Medical humanities, as we have defined it in Survive and Thrive, insists on integration.  We hope to bring that spirit of integration into this special issue by inviting submissions that consider questions like the following:

• What has helped you survive the experience of perinatal loss?

• How have you helped others survive the experience of perinatal loss?

• How have the institutions and communities that support birthing people supported those who suffer perinatal loss?

• What more can be done to help address perinatal loss as a part of the human experience?

We value the integration of story and art into medical practice and the integration of medical insights into the creation of art and literature.  We include, too, the integration of all parts of the human health experience (medical education, clinical practice, caregiving relationships in the home, public health, public policy, and more).  

SUBMISSION DEADLINES

September 2 (Labor Day) 2024:  Deadline for Abstracts.  Authors who submit abstracts will receive early feedback and encouragement, if their work fits within the scope.  Submit to: David Beard, DBeard@d.umn.edu 

- November 28 (Thanksgiving 2024):  Deadline for Completed Work.  You do not need to have submitted an abstract by September 2 to submit a full manuscript. Submit to: https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/survive_thrive/ 

Summer 2025:  Projected Publication 

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

"Submissions" may include text, video, audio, or image files that express the aims and scope of the journal. Submissions cannot have been previously published, nor be forthcoming in a journal or book (print or electronic). Please note that "publication" in a working-paper series does not constitute prior publication. If you have concerns about the submission terms for Survive & Thrive: A Journal for Medical Humanities and Narrative as Medicine, please contact the editors. <https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/survive_thrive/policies.html>

ABOUT SURVIVE AND THRIVE: A JOURNAL FOR MEDICAL HUMANITIES AND NARRATIVE AS MEDICINE

Survive Thrive: A Journal for Medical Humanities and Narrative as Medicine aims to provide opportunities for sharing research, artistic work, poetry, pedagogical dialogue, and the practice of Medical Humanities and Narrative as Medicine. The journal serves its mission in education and the practice of Humanities as they relate to illness, injury, and trauma. This opens the journal to submissions across the diversity of human experience. One of the primary aims of the journal is to bring Medical Humanities and Narrative Medicine to patients, survivors, and caregivers. While aware of and supporting professional medical education, the journal is most concerned with an audience broader than a medical or academic audience. We encourage physicians and others in the Medical Profession to practice Narrative as Medicine by submitting their work, especially when it encourages them to be artists – visual, performance, and literary. We encourage survivors, their caregivers, and those working in advocacy to share their experiences. This act of sharing can foster the healing of others through the power of poetry and story. The scope of the journal is eclectic. Submissions undergo double-blind peer review, often both by scholars and by those who have experienced or worked with the topic of the submission. This process ensures both literary and scholarly quality and a kind of truth to the human experience.

Also see: <http://repository.stcloudstate.edu/survive_thrive/aimsandscope.html>

Also see:  <https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/survive_thrive/policies.html>

Project edited by:

David Beard, DBeard@d.umn.edu