Exploring the validity of self‐reported complicated grief symptoms in parentally bereaved adults with intellectual disabilities compared to a non‐bereaved group Authors- S. Guerin, J. McEvoy and P. Dodd- University College ; Midway Services; St Michaels House.

Issued on October 4 2019

Exploring the validity of self‐reported complicated grief symptoms in parentally bereaved adults with intellectual disabilities compared to a non‐bereaved group

1. Guerin¹, J. McEvoy² and P. Dodd³

¹University College Dublin, Ireland; ²Midway Services, Ireland; ³St Michaels House, Ireland

Introduction: Research has established that people with intellectual disabilities (ID) do grieve following a bereavement, and can also experience complicated grief. However there are few methods to assess self‐reported symptoms of grief, including complicated grief in this population. This study aims to compare a bereaved group to a non‐bereaved group on self‐reported symptoms of complicated grief, and considers the symptoms that may best discriminate the two groups.

Methods: The self‐report version of the Complicated Grief Questionnaire‐Intellectual Disability (CGQ‐ID) was administered to a group of people with mainly mild/moderate ID (n = 46, 24 males, Mean age = 43, SD = 10), 30 of whom who had experienced parental bereavement and a matched control group (n = 16). Care staff also completed a proxy report of the scale.

Results: Comparative analysis of the presence of the DSM‐V criteria for prolonged grief disorder (as complicated grief is defined) highlighted more significant differences between the groups using the self‐report tool than proxy report. However not all individual items of the scale discriminated between the groups.

Implications: This study presents preliminary evidence of the validity of a self‐report version of complicated grief, which may allow for a more effective assessment of symptoms in the ID population.

Keywords Intellectual disability, Bereavement, Grief, Complicated grief