Smartphone Training Boosts Bereavement Care Skills in Obstetric Nurses

A quasi-experimental study from a tertiary hospital in Zhejiang, China, tested whether a smartphone-based perinatal bereavement care training program could strengthen nurses’ competence while easing the emotional toll of this work.

The study enrolled 233 obstetric nurses and midwives, assigning 127 to the intervention group and 106 to a control group. Those in the intervention group completed the smartphone-based training program, while control participants took part in routine learning. Outcomes were measured at baseline, immediately after the intervention, and again three months later.

Follow-up retention was high: 206 participants, or 88.4 percent, completed the immediate post-intervention assessment, and 198, or 85.0 percent, completed the three-month follow-up. The researchers analyzed the results using generalized estimating equations, a statistical approach suited to repeated measurements over time.

Significant intervention effects appeared for perinatal bereavement care competence, self-awareness, secondary traumatic stress, and emotional exhaustion at both the immediate and three-month assessments, with all reported P values below .05. In practical terms, trained staff reported greater competence and self-awareness alongside lower levels of secondary traumatic stress and emotional exhaustion symptoms compared with the routine-learning group.

One domain showed a less durable pattern. Organizational support improved immediately after the program, with a P value below .001, but the improvement was no longer significant at the three-month follow-up. In other words, the improvement in organizational support was observed only at the immediate post-intervention assessment and was not sustained at the three-month follow-up.

The trial was registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR2100049730) on August 8, 2021, before participant enrollment began.

They call on hospital policymakers, administrators, and nursing leaders to consider adopting digital training of this kind while strengthening sustained organizational support for bereavement care quality.

The evidence base remains limited. As a quasi-experimental study conducted at a single tertiary hospital, the design cannot rule out confounding as fully as a randomized trial, and the authors themselves note that larger multicenter randomized controlled trials with extended follow-up are warranted to confirm and expand on the findings. The reported benefits should therefore be read as encouraging preliminary signals rather than settled practice-changing results.

Subject of Research: A smartphone-based perinatal bereavement care training program for obstetric nurses and midwives evaluated in a quasi-experimental trial in China.

Article Title: Implementation of a smartphone-based perinatal bereavement care training program for obstetric nurses and midwives: quasi-experimental study

Article References: Qian, J., Wang, M., & Sun, S. (2026). Implementation of a smartphone-based perinatal bereavement care training program for obstetric nurses and midwives: quasi-experimental study. BMC Nursing. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-026-05524-9

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s12912-026-05524-9

Keywords: perinatal bereavement care, obstetric nurses, midwives, smartphone-based training, quasi-experimental study, secondary traumatic stress, emotional exhaustion, nursing education, digital health, China, organizational support, mHealth