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. 2019 Mar 19;14(3):e0213152.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0213152. eCollection 2019.

Rumination in bereaved parents: Psychometric evaluation of the Swedish version of the Utrecht Grief Rumination Scale (UGRS)

Josefin Sveen  1   2 , Lilian Pohlkamp  1 , Ulrika Kreicbergs  1   3 , Maarten C Eisma  4
Affiliations

Rumination in bereaved parents: Psychometric evaluation of the Swedish version of the Utrecht Grief Rumination Scale (UGRS)

Josefin Sveen et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background: Bereaved parents may be at higher risk to develop persistent, severe and disabling grief, termed prolonged grief. Grief rumination, repetitive thinking about the causes and consequences of the loss, is a malleable cognitive process that maintains prolonged grief. Grief rumination can be measured with the Utrecht Grief Rumination Scale (UGRS). The present study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of the new Swedish version of the UGRS in a sample of bereaved parents.

Methods: A Swedish nationwide postal survey including measures of demographic and loss-related variables, grief rumination (UGRS), and symptoms of prolonged grief, posttraumatic stress, anxiety, depression, and insomnia, was completed by 226 parents (133 mothers and 93 fathers) who lost a child to cancer in the past five years. Psychometric properties of the UGRS were examined through confirmatory factor analyses (CFA), reliability analyses, and assessment of UGRS score associations with symptoms of prolonged grief, posttraumatic stress, depression, anxiety, and insomnia.

Results: The internal consistency of the Swedish UGRS was good. The CFA yielded an acceptable fit for a two-factor hierarchical model with five sub-factors. Grief rumination was positively associated with all psychopathology symptom measures. Higher scores on UGRS were found in parents with possible prolonged grief disorder compared to those without (d = 1.47). Moreover, the Swedish UGRS was associated with prolonged grief symptoms over and above loss-related and demographic variables and other psychopathology symptoms.

Conclusions: The Swedish UGRS demonstrated good psychometric properties, which supports its use as a measure to assess grief rumination in Swedish bereaved parents in research and practice.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Correlated five-factor structure of the Swedish Utrecht Grief Rumination Scale.
Error terms are denoted with a small ‘e’. All path coefficients are significant at p < .001.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Second-order five-factor structure of the Swedish Utrecht Grief Rumination Scale.
Error terms are denoted with a small ‘e’. All path coefficients are significant at p < .001.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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Grants and funding

This work received funding through the following sources: JS: Swedish Childhood Cancer foundation, grant no. PR2015-0050; TJ2015-0021; https://www.barncancerfonden.se; UK: Gålö foundation; www.galostiftelsen.se; LP: Ersta Sköndal Bräcke University College; https://esh.se/. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.