Unfinished Business in Bereavement and Its Relationship to Prolonged Grief: A Validation Study
Type of research: Quantitative empirical
Description:
Losing a loved one can be seen as one of the most difficult life experiences. While most people adapt to loss over time, around 10% of bereaved people develop prolonged grief disorder (PGD; Lundorff et al., 2017). PGD occurs when, at least 12 months after the loss, grief intensity remains so severe that it still impairs daily functioning. Key symptoms are yearning for and preoccupation with thoughts of the deceased (American Psychiatric Association, 2022).
A related concept that is theoretically argued to be a risk factor for developing and maintaining PGD is “unfinished business”, which is defined as unresolved issues that a bereaved person may have in relation to their deceased loved one. However, only recently, a reliable and valid measure has been developed to assess this construct, and empirical research examining it is still limited (Holland et al., 2020).
In this project, you will contribute to validating the Dutch translation of the brief Unfinished Business in Bereavement Scale (UBBS; Holland et al., 2020). A previous study has examined the factor structure of the scale. The current project extends this work by collecting new data and by examining the stability and predictive value of unfinished business over time.
The project will include two groups of participants: (1) participants from the earlier study who are contacted again to complete the UBBS and related measures a second time, and (2) new participants, which you will recruit, who will complete the questionnaire once. This design allows for both cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses.
Together with other students, you will set up an online questionnaire and contribute to participant recruitment. Each student will work on a unique research question, focusing on one of the following topics: factor analyses, stability over time (e.g., repeated-measures analysis & test-retest reliability), or predictive validity (whether unfinished business predicts PGD-related symptoms over time).
Examples of research questions could be:
1. What is the factor structure of the Dutch version of the brief UBBS?
2. To what extent is the Dutch version of the brief UBBS reliable and valid over time?
3. To what extent does unfinished business predict PGD symptoms and related outcomes?
Who are we looking for?
As part of the data collection phase, you will set up a questionnaire in Qualtrics and write an invitation letter for participants in Dutch. Therefore, students should be adequately proficient in the Dutch language (at least B2 level).
What do we offer?
We will provide a previously translated Dutch version of the brief UBBS, a partial Qualtrics template, and assist with participant recruitment.
References
American Psychiatric Association. (2022). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th, text-revised eds.). American Psychiatric Association Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425787
Holland, J. M., Klingspon, K. L., Lichtenthal, W. G., & Neimeyer, R. A. (2020). The Unfinished Business in Bereavement Scale (UBBS): Development and psychometric evaluation. Death Studies, 44(2), 65–77. https://doi.org/10.1080/07481187.2018.1521101
Lundorff, M., Holmgren, H., Zachariae, R., Farver-Vestergaard, I., & O’Connor, M. (2017). Prevalence of prolonged grief disorder in adult bereavement: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Affective Disorders, 212, 138–149. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2017.01.030