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Objective: To present the coping strategies used by African American women following their miscarriages, ectopic pregnancies, fetal deaths, and stillbirths, which the authors have termed involuntary pregnancy losses or IPLs.

Design: Semistructured audiotaped interviews; grounded theory methods used to collect and analyze the data.

Setting: Urban community‐based sites in the Western United States.

Participants: 20 African American adult women who reported a history of involuntary pregnancy loss within 3 years of interview.

Results: In this study, the women's responses to their IPL were grouped into four areas. They coped with personal reactions, reactions of others, memories of the baby, and subsequent pregnancies.

Conclusion: The women in this study used inner resources to develop self‐help strategies to cope with reactions following IPL. Nurses are challenged to harness the influence of family …