Üsküdar University's signature on the ‘International Prolonged Grief Disorder Scale’

Researchers from five countries including Türkiye carried out a multicenter study with aim to confirm the international validity of Prolonged Grief Disorder diagnostic measure. Researchers from Üsküdar University represented Türkiye. Department of Psychology Faculty Member Assoc. Prof. Asil Özdoğru, who is one of the authors of the articles, stated that “This international measurement tool can be considered as a useful tool that can be used by researchers and experts to better understand and measure the grieving process in an intercultural context.”.

Prolonged Grief Disorder is a new psychological disorder added to recent updates to the World Health Organization's International Classification System of Diseases and the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. People with this disorder experience intense emotional pain, various grieving responses, as well as persistent and diffuse longing for the deceased and cognitive preoccupation for at least six months after the loss.

In order to confirm the international validity of the diagnostic criteria of Prolonged Grief Disorder, researchers from five countries, including Türkiye, carried out a multicenter study. In the study where researchers from Üsküdar University represented Türkiye, 31 researchers from 24 universities conducted an online survey with 287 participants from Türkiye and a total of one thousand 393 participants.

The study was carried out with those who had lost a relative between 6 months and 10 years

Within the scope of the study, which received ethics committee permissions, participants responded to a series of psychological measurement tools with questions containing information about themselves and the deceased. Attention was paid to whether the deceased person was a family member or friend who had been lost at some time between 6 months and 10 years ago. The measurement tools included the International Prolonged Grief Disorder Scale, which was adapted from English to Turkish in five steps, as well as the Prolonged Grief Scale, the Bodily Symptom Scale, the Patient Health Questionnaire, the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Test and the International Trauma Questionnaire.

The findings of the study were published in the April issue of the internationally respected Journal of Affective Disorders in an article titled Measurement and Assessment of Grief in a Large International Sample '.

The findings show that the International Scale of Prolonged Grief Disorder is consistent and reliable

Faculty Member of Üsküdar University Department of Psychology Assoc. Prof. Asil Özdoğru, who is one of the authors of the article, shared the following information about the research: “We carried out the study in cooperation with the International Trauma Consortium and the Psi Chi Society, under the coordination of Psych. Beyzanur Yalçın, who graduated from our Department of Psychology in English, with the support of young researchers in our research group and mostly with the participation of our students. The study collected data from Türkiye, the United States, Cyprus, Iran and Greece between August 2019 and June 2020. When the collected data were examined, it was seen that the possible cases of disorder were more common in the Cyprus and Greece groups compared to the USA, Iran and Türkiye groups. These and other findings in the study show that the International Prolonged Grief Disorder Scale, which consists of 33 items, is consistent in itself, sensitive to cultural differences, and psychometrically reliable and valid measurement tool. This scale, which was developed according to the new criteria and is based on self-reporting, can now be applied in nine languages, including Turkish. This international measurement tool can be considered as a useful tool that can be used by researchers and experts to better understand and measure the grieving process in a cross-cultural context.".

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2023.01.095

Üsküdar News Agency (ÜNA)