Portuguese Version of the Continuing Bonds Scale–16 in a Sample of Bereaved Parents

Abstract

The aim of this study was to assess the psychometric properties of the Continuing Bonds Scale–16 (CBS-16) in a sample of Portuguese-speaking bereaved parents. The sample comprised 355 parents (mean age: 40.52 years) who completed the CBS-16 as well as measures of grief and posttraumatic growth. The exploratory factor analysis suggested a two-factor structure (internalized and externalized continuing bonds), which was also supported through a confirmatory factor analysis. The CBS-16 presented satisfactory reliability, as well as construct, convergent, and known-groups validities. These results support the use of the CBS-16 as an adequate measure of continuing bonds among bereaved parents.

Keywords:

• Death of a child
• continuing bonds
• reliability
• validity

Acknowledgments

This study was developed within the research group “Relationships, Development & Health,” of the R&D Unit CINEICC–Center for Research in Neuropsychology and Cognitive and Behavioral Intervention, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences of the University of Coimbra. Sara Albuquerque was supported by a PhD Scholarship from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (SFRH/BD/86223/2012).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sara Albuquerque

Sara Albuquerque recently received her European Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the University of Lisbon and University of Coimbra, and during this period she was a research visitor at VU University, Amsterdam. Her doctoral research focused on the individual and marital adjustment of bereaved parents. She has published several papers in peer-reviewed journals and book chapters. Her research interests include grief, trauma, dyadic coping, posttraumatic growth, and continuing bonds. She has clinical experience working with a variety of areas, such as anxiety, depression, grief, divorce, chronic illness, trauma, and drug addiction. She is also a licensed trainer, conducting regular workshops regarding grief and emotional regulation, and also collaborates with a yearly module on grief and family from the Integrated Master of Psychology of the Faculty of Psychology of the University of Lisbon.

Isabel Narciso

Dr. Isabel de Santa Barbara Narciso is an associate professor (with aggregation) at the Faculty of Psychology of the University of Lisbon, and a family therapist. Her main research and pedagogic areas are family psychology (e.g., marital satisfaction, couple intimacy, parental educative patterns, adoptive families, children in social care, adolescence, and self-destructive trajectories) and systemic interventions with families and communities (couple and family therapy).

Marco Pereira

Dr. Marco Pereira is a researcher at the Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences of the University of Coimbra (Portugal). He received his PhD degree in Health Psychology at the University of Coimbra in 2008. He is or has been a researcher or external advisor in several national and international projects related to HIV, Hepatitis C, pregnancy and transition to parenthood, and quality of life. His recent lines of research focused on adult attachment, dyadic coping, and dyadic interdependence in the couples’ adjustment to different contexts of adversity (e.g., death of a child, HIV serodiscordancy, postpartum depression). He has published more than 100 papers in peer-reviewed journals and 14 book chapters.