The Pandemic Grief Scale and Pandemic Grief Risk Factors: Spanish Adaptation, Validation, and Identification of Prolonged Grief Disorder

Abstract

Introduction: The unique circumstances surrounding grief experienced during the pandemic created a need to develop specific tools to assess these processes. Two instruments have been developed and validated in English: the Pandemic Grief Scale (PGS) and the Pandemic Grief Risk Factors (PGRF). Aim: The present study validated the Spanish versions of both scales and explored their relation to Prolonged Grief Disorder symptomatology in the months following the attenuation of the pandemic in the West. Method: The sample consisted of 276 Spanish bereaved people who had lost a loved one during the COVID-19 pandemic. Other instruments, including the PG-13, were used alongside the PGS and PGRF to establish diagnostic criteria. The Support Needs Questionnaire and SCL-90-R were also employed to provide evidence of convergent and divergent validity. Results: Both scales had a unifactorial structure and adequate reliability indices (α = .85–.86). A cutoff point of 7 on the PGS identified mourners with prolonged grief disorder with high sensitivity and specificity. Further validity analyses showed positive correlations of dysfunctional grief with psychopathological variables. Conclusion: The Spanish versions of the PGS and PGRF demonstrate adequate psychometric properties for assessing the longer-term complications of COVID-19 loss.