Predictors of Grief Among Spouses of Deceased Cancer Patients

Abstract

A structured interview was administered to 112 spouses of deceased cancer patients about the circumstances of their spouse's death. The CES-D depression scale also was administered, and the respondents were asked questions about the severity of their grief. Spouses who reported a high degree of emotional distress following the death tended to be younger, lived alone, said they had been upset just before the death, had avoided thinking about the possibility of their spouse's death, and reported that the patient had died at home. No significant associations were found between the spouses' emotional distress and their gender, the patient's diagnoses or discomfort just before death, or whether the spouse had talked with the patient about death. The findings were not consistent with the anticipatoy grief hypothesis and indicated that more complex conceptualizations are needed to predict the degree of postbereavernent distress a spouse will experience.