Grief‐related beliefs in shidu parents with and without prolonged grief disorder: Psychometric properties of a Chinese version of the Typical Beliefs Questionnaire

Abstract

The Typical Beliefs Questionnaire (TBQ) assesses common grief-related cognitions, which demonstrated satisfactory psychometric properties in a treatment-seeking sample with prolonged grief disorder (PGD). Chinese shidu parents (bereaved parents over the age of 49 who have lost their only child) are at a high risk of PGD. The current study aimed to examine psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the TBQ (TBQ-C) in a community sample of shidu parents with and without PGD, to compare this to the original validation clinical sample in the United States bereaved of any close relationship and to consider its use as a clinical tool. We examined the rate of positive endorsement, factor structure, internal consistency and validity of the TBQ-C in 310 community-based shidu parents (including 102 who met the criteria for PGD). Results showed that the rate of positive endorsement for each item ranged from 7.2% to 48.6% among non-PGD participants and from 20.6% to 92.2% among PGD participants. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the original fivefactor structure fit both the non-PGD and PGD shidu parents. The TBQ-C showed acceptable internal consistency and satisfactory convergent and concurrent validity in both groups. It had good discriminant validity and can be helpful in distinguishing shidu parents with and without PGD. The TBQ-C can be used to investigate common grief-related beliefs that may be problematic for both shidu parents with and without PGD.

Prevalence of prolonged grief disorder and its symptoms in Chinese parents who lost their only child: A systematic review and meta-analysis

“…The flowchart of study inclusion and detailed characteristics of included studies are shown in Figure 1 and Table 1, respectively. Four studies assessed the presence of PGD by using the PG-13 based on the Prigerson et al ( 27) diagnostic criteria while two assessed the presence of PGD by using a self-developed scale based on the International Classification of Diseases 11th Revision (ICD-11) (15, 16,19,[24][25][26].…”

Latent class analysis of grief‐related beliefs among recently bereaved adults

“…It is worth noting that about two‐thirds of the participants (Class 1 plus Class 2) have high endorsement probabilities for three counterfactual items, namely, the person did not have to die, should not have died like that, or should still be here. Such typical counterfactual thoughts were also highly endorsed by the treatment‐seeking sample with PGD in the United States (Skritskaya et al ., 2017), as well as Chinese bereaved parents who have lost their only child (Xu et al ., 2021). The results provide additional evidence to support that certain CFT are common and natural for bereaved people, regardless of the relationship to the deceased or the context or the time since loss.…”

“…Total scores of the TBQ were obtained by summing the 25 items. The Chinese version of the TBQ has been proven to have adequate psychometric properties in bereaved parents with and without PGD (Xu et al ., 2021).…”

“…Because LCA uses binary variables, similar to the previous method of scoring the TBQ (Skritskaya et al ., 2017; Xu et al ., 2021), a score of 3 or 4 (strongly or very strongly agree) on an item was recoded as 1 (presence of grief‐related beliefs), while scores below 3 were recorded as 0 (absence of grief‐related beliefs). The total score of the dichotomized TBQ ranges from 0 to 25.…”

“…It contains five kinds of grief‐related beliefs, Protesting the death, Negative thoughts about the world, Needing the person, Less grief is wrong, and Grieving too much, which have often been observed among treatment‐seeking people with PGD. Although it is believed that these thoughts are common for people who have lost loved ones (e.g., “This death shouldn't have happened”), certain kinds of beliefs held strongly for a long time can interfere with acceptance of and adaptation to loss (Lechner‐Meichsner, Mauro, Skritskaya & Shear, 2021; Xu et al ., 2021). These clinically important beliefs, especially Needing the person, were significantly associated with functional impairment, suicidal ideation, and outcomes of grief treatment (Skritskaya et al ., 2020).…”