Measuring Grief Symptoms in Cancer Patients: The Reliability and Validity Study of the Turkish Version of Prolonged Grief Disorder Scale

Abstract

The need to grieve is not limited to losses due to death of significant others, but it also arises in reaction to various life events which result in a sense of loss. Grief is argued to be a universal and natural reaction also in face of life-theratening illnesses. Cancer is a phenomenon that has to be examined in terms of grief reactions since it inherits multiple losses. The aim of the current study is to test the reliability and validity of the Turkish version of Prolonged Grief Disorder Scale-Patient Form (PG-12-Patient Form), which is used to measure grief symptoms in cancer patients. Following the finalization of the Turkish form, the scale was applied to a sample of participants composed of 250 outpatients diagnosed with cancer. The participants were also presented with Hopelessness Scale and Illness Related Subjective Appraisals Scale for the purpose of examining criterion validity. Principle components analysis revealed that forced one-factor solution explaining 46% of the variance was satisfactory and gave a clearer factor structure than the dimensional solution. The Cronbach's Alpha internal consistency was found to be .88. The total scores obtained from the scale were found to have significant positive relationships with the scales used to test the criterion validity. The results provide evidence suggesting that the Turkish version of PG-12-Patient Form is a reliable and valid tool to measure grief symptoms in cancer patients.