Prolonged grief and depression after unnatural loss: Latent class analyses and cognitive correlates

Background: Along with the implementation of the one-child policy in China, a special group of bereaved parents called ‘shiduer’ (失独者), meaning parents bereaved by the loss of their only child, emerged. Although previous research has examined the physical and psychological health of this population, individual differences in physical and psychological outcomes are still not well understood.Objective: This study aimed to identify heterogenous subgroups of Chinese bereaved parents who lost their only child based on the physical and psychological health of this population as well as the predictive factors of each subgroup.Method: Latent profile analysis was used to explore underlying patterns of physical and psychological indicators including subjective physical health, negative psychological outcomes (i.e. depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and prolonged grief disorder) and positive psychological outcomes (i.e. post-traumatic growth) among a sample of Chinese bereaved parents who lost their only child (N = 536). A three-step approach was used to examine the effects of covariates including quality of spousal relationship and recruitment channels on psychological and physical outcomes.Results: A three-profile model identified severity-based groupings of a ‘resilient’ subgroup (n = 153), a ‘coping’ subgroup (n = 338) and a ‘dysfunctional’ subgroup (n = 45). Less satisfaction with spousal relationship and recruitment from institutions in the community and online self-help groups (vs. offline support groups) are associated with the membership of the ‘coping’ or ‘dysfunctional’ subgroup compared to the ‘resilient’ subgroup.Conclusions: There is heterogeneity regarding the physical and psychological health of Chinese parents after losing their only child. The predictive effects of the quality of spousal relationship and the recruitment channels could provide directions for professional intervention.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Latent profiles of physical and psychological outcomes of bereaved parents in China who lost their only child

Zhou

Huang

et al. 2018

“…The symptoms of PGD are found to be distinct from often comorbid near neighbours such as depression, PTSD and separation anxiety (Boelen, van de Schoot, van den Hout, de Keijser, & van den Bout, 2010; Boelen, 2013). Several different statistical methods have been used to confirm the distinct nature of PGD, including confirmatory factor analysis (Boelen, van den Hout, & van den Bout, 2008), latent class analysis (Boelen, Reijntjes, J. Djelantik, & Smid, 2016) and network analysis (Robinaugh, LeBlanc, Vuletich, & McNally, 2014). In light of recent research (Cozza et al, 2016; Mauro et al, 2017), it should be noted that different results have been reported in terms of the diagnostic performance of the PGD-2009 criteria, presumably depending on the study population sample.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prolonged grief disorder for ICD-11: the primacy of clinical utility and international applicability

Killikelly

Maercker

2017

142

114

A new mental health disorder, prolonged grief disorder (PGD), will be included in the 11th edition of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11). We provide a brief overview of the historical conceptualizations of disordered grief and the previous research efforts to assess and define this condition. We describe the new ICD-11 PGD symptom criteria and how they are conceptualized in terms of the World Health Organization’s call for improved clinical utility. Finally, we review the research evidence for the clinical utility of the new ICD-11 PGD symptom structure and usability in the international arena.

“…LCA identifies unobserved subgroups of individuals based on predefined indicators (in the current study presence of PGD, MDD, and PTSD symptom clusters). Previous LCA studies in bereaved samples were either focused on PGD and PTSD symptoms (Nickerson et al, 2014) or PGD and MDD symptoms (Boelen, Reijntjes, Djelantik, & Smid, 2016). These studies indicated that three to four classes can be distinguished: (1) a Resilient class, (2) a PGD class, (3) a PGD combined with MDD or PTSD class, and (4) in the study of Nickerson et al (2014) also a distinct PTSD class.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prolonged grief, depression, and posttraumatic stress in disaster-bereaved individuals: latent class analysis

Lenferink

Keijser

Smid

et al. 2017

Self Cite

Background: Hundreds of individuals lost one or more significant others in the MH17 plane crash in 2014 in Ukraine. The current study is the first to explore subgroups of disaster-bereaved individuals based on presence of psychopathology clusters. This may inform the development of diagnostic instruments and tailored interventions. Objective: Aims of the current study were to examine (1) subgroups based on presence of prolonged grief disorder (PGD), major depressive disorder (MDD), and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom clusters and (2) associations between class membership, disaster-related variables (i.e. experiencing multiple losses, conducting multiple burials for the same deceased, and time to confirmation of death), and a sense of unrealness. Method: Self-rated PGD (10 items of the Traumatic Grief Inventory represented in two symptom clusters), MDD (16-item Quick Inventory Of Depressive Symptomatology represented in one symptom cluster), and PTSD (20-item PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 represented in four symptom clusters) from 167 participants were subjected to latent class analysis to identify subgroups (i.e. classes). Correlates of class membership were assessed using the three-step approach. Results: A three-class solution yielded the best model fit. Class 1 (Resilient class; 20.0%) was predominantly characterized by low probability of PGD, MDD, and PTSD symptom clusters, class 2 (PGD class; 41.8%) by moderate to high probability of presence of PGD, and class 3 (Combined class; 38.2%) by moderate to high probability of presence of PGD, MDD, and PTSD symptom clusters. Compared with the Resilient class, a sense of unrealness was more likely to be experienced by individuals in the PGD class and the Combined class. Conclusions: Our results indicate that subgroups of disaster-bereaved individuals can be distinguished based on the presence of PGD, MDD, and PTSD symptom clusters. A sense of unrealness was the strongest distinguishing feature of the subgroups.