The spiritual experience of high-risk pregnancy.

Objective: To uncover the spiritual beliefs and practices of women experiencing high-risk pregnancies.

Design: Qualitative, naturalistic inquiry via face-to-face, semistructured interviews, with thematic analysis of interview transcripts.

Setting: A prenatal special care unit of a tertiary health centre.

Spirituality and high-risk pregnancy: another aspect of patient care.

A high-risk pregnancy can be a stressful situation for a woman, her partner and her family. Many women utilize their spiritual beliefs as a way to make sense of their situation. Health care professionals, including nurses, midwives and physicians, can provide effective spiritual care and support consistent with their professional scopes of practice.