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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Late-life bereavement and complicated grief
— a proposed comprehensive framework | | Author(s) | Shruti N Shah, Suzanne Meeks |
| Journal title | Aging & Mental Health, vol 16, no 1-2, January-March 2012 |
| Pages | pp 39-56 |
| Source | http://www.tandfonline.com |
| Keywords | Bereavement ; Psychoses ; Depression ; Diagnosis ; Theory. |
| Annotation | Following a bereavement, some older adults experience grief reactions that are considered to be difficult or complicated in terms of duration and emotional intensity. The recent proposal to include the construct of complicated grief (CG) as a diagnostic category for the upcoming Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-V (DSM-V) has resulted in a proliferation of research on CG. The aim of this review is to critically examine the construct validity in light of a proposed conceptual framework that considers pre-loss conditions in the prediction of late-life grief outcomes, and to determine the degree to which research supports the inclusion of CG as a valid standardised diagnostic entity. The review critically examines current bereavement and grief models, exploring discriminant and convergent validity between CG and uncomplicated grief and other psychopathological constructs in terms of symptom intensity, symptom trajectories, bereavement outcomes, and treatment response. The findings show mixed support for differentiating CG from other outcomes of bereavement. They also emphasise the importance of considering pre-bereavement circumstances, such as pre-existing depression, in the conceptualisation of broader bereavement outcome. A comprehensive framework that emphasises pre-bereavement circumstances is proposed in order to better predict various grief trajectories and outcomes of late-life loss. (JL). |
| Accession Number | CPA-120820002 A |
| Classmark | DW: EL: ENR: LK7: 4D |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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