Deepening the understanding of complicated grief among Chinese older adults: A network approach

Abstract

Instead of understanding symptoms in a way where a latent cause exists and symptoms serve as its indicators, the network approach enables an innovative comprehension on psychological disorders that focuses on causal interactions. There is need to update the knowledge in this direction in Chinese context. This study strives to apply network approach to deepening the understanding of complicated grief (CG) among older adults in rural China. A sample of older participants (N = 352) who experienced spousal bereavement living in Zhejiang Province of China were administrated with face-to-face interviews. Networks analysis was conducted to realize the object of this study. The 19-item ICG network revealed that symptoms were both positively and negatively connected within the network. The most three central symptoms were "feeling longing for the person who died" and "memories of the dead", and feeling lonely". Edge-weights accuracy and centrality stability were tested in order to remind carefulness when interpreting the results. This study demonstrates the utility of a network approach in deepening the understanding of the structure of CG symptoms among Chinese older people. Strengths and limitations, as well as implications for informing the assessment and treatment of this disorder, were discussed.

Keywords: China; Complicated grief; Network analysis; Older people.