Experiences and perspectives of women who have committed neonaticide, infanticide and filicide: A systematic review and qualitative evidence synthesis.
Giulia Milia, Maria Noonan
PMID 35255182WHAT IT FOUND
Women who killed newborns described denying or hiding pregnancy and giving birth alone.
Women who killed infants or older children described mental health crises, often followed by regret and grief. Perinatal nurses can ask about isolation and changing mental health.
Key findings
01Women who committed neonaticide were described as denying or concealing pregnancy, isolating themselves, and giving birth alone with panic or dissociation.
02Women who committed infanticide or filicide were described as having mental health issues, including depression or psychosis, and some acts were framed as delusion-based mercy killing or were premeditated.
03After the child's death, many women described grief, lack of self-compassion and self-hate, and some described no protective attachment or no grief.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The review included only English papers, seven papers from five studies, and 36 participants total. Two studies were single-case studies, and the groups were uneven: 13 neonaticide, 4 infanticide and 17 filicide women. Many participants were recruited from prison or psychiatric settings, so women with mental health issues may be overrepresented. Definitions and child age at death were inconsistent, and the review could not analyse experiences by child age. Grey literature was not searched, and qualitative study indexing in databases varies, so some eligible studies may have been missed. The median publication year was 2006, so findings may reflect older social contexts. The lead author is a midwife with an outsider position, which may have shaped interpretation. Qualitative themes describe experiences and do not show that any assessment, education or support intervention prevents child killing.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that perinatal assessment prevents child killing. It is a qualitative synthesis of women's experiences, many recruited from prison or psychiatric settings, and it does not test any intervention.