Effects of bereavement groups–a systematic review and meta-analysis

Figures & data

Figure 1. Flow chart of the literature search process.

Table 1. Study characteristics.

	Treatment group						Control group
Study	Con	No	Dur	Memb	Prot	Leader	Con	No	Dur	Prot	Leader	Grief	N	D (%)	ITT	FU
Constantino & Bricker (1996)	BGP	8	8	n.a.	no	MSc. mental health nursing	SGP	8	8	no	like TG	n	32/16/16	0	no	–
Murphy et al. (1998)	PF-SG	10^a	12	5–10	n.a.	men-women pairs, psychol., nurse, family therap.	WL	–	–	–	–	n	Mothers: 261/153/108 Fathers: 261/52/38	10	no	6
Goodkin et al. (1999)	B-SG	10	10	n.a.	yes	2 co-therap. exp. in SGP for bereavement and lethal diseases	TAU	4 telephone calls	10	no	study staff	n	Seropositive: 166/53/44 Seronegative: 166/39/30	18.5	no	–
Piper et al. (2001)	IT	12	12	n.a.	yes	Therap., social work, occupational therap.	ST	12	12	yes	like TG	P	139/n.a./n.a.	23^b	yes	–
Sikkema et al. (2004)	CBT-HIV	12	12	n.a.	yes	2 group leaders, PhD, 1 psychol., 2 MSc. social work, 1 nurse	TAU	n.a.	n.a.	no	MSc. + PhD therap.	n	268/n.a./n.a.	56^b	yes	–
Piper et al. (2007)	IT	12	12	8–10	yes	Therap., social work, nurse	ST	12	12	yes	like TG	p	135/67/68^d	22.4	no	–
Rosner et al. (2011)	CBT	9^e	4.5^e	n.a.	yes	2 men, 7 women; Therap., CBT	TAU	3–4 group, 1–2 indiv.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	p	117/n.a./n.a.	30	yes	–
Foster & Holden (2014)	PE-ND	3	3	n.a.	yes	n.a.	WL	–	–	–	–	n	29/15/14	20	no	–
Supiano & Luptak (2014)	CBT	16	16	n.a.	yes	2 counselors; 2 social workers; exp., 2 men, 2 women	TAU	16	16	yes	like TG	p	39/20/19	40^f	yes	1.5
MacKinnon et al. (2015)	MBGC	12	12	6–8	yes	Lic. mental health professonals	B-SG	7	14	yes	2 nonprofessionals	n	26/14/12	7.1	no	3
McGuinness et al. (2015)	PE-CA	8	8	n.a.	n.a.	2 authors, Dramatherap., social worker	WL	–	–	–	–	n	20/10/10	20	no	–
Johnson et al. (2016)	IPT	12^g	20	n.a.	yes	psychiatric nurse + 2 PhD	CWD	12	20	yes	2 post-PhD +  psychiatry resident	n / p	50/25/25	28^h	yes	3, 6^i
Chow et al. (2019)	DPBGI-C	8	8	n.a.	yes	Exp. bereavement counselors + assistant	LOBGI-C	8	8	yes	Like TG	p	215/83/42	14.5	yes	4
Wenn et al. (2019)	MCGT	6	6	4–7	yes	primary researcher + co-facilitator (both provisionally registered psychologists under supervision)	WL	–	–	–	–	p	22/12/10	25	yes	3,6^j

Notes. Con: Concept. No: Number of sessions. Dur: Duration in weeks. Memb: members. Prot: Protocol. N: sample size of randomized participants (total/treatment/control). D: Dropouts. ITT: intent-to-treat analysis. FU: follow-up interval in months. BGP: Bereavement Group Postintervention. IT: Interpretive Therapy. MBGC: Meaning-based group conseling. CBT-HIV: cognitive behavior therapy for HIV-infections. CBT: cognitive behavior therapy. DPBGI-C: Dual process bereavement group intervention. PF-SG: problem-focused support group. B-SG: bereavement support group. PE-CA: psychoeducation and creative arts. IPT: interpersonal psychotherapy. PE-ND: psychoeducation for near death experiences. SGP: Social Group Postintervention. ST: Supportive therapy. TAU: treatment as usual. LOBGI-C: Loss-oriented bereavement group intervention. WL: waiting list. CWD: cognitive behavioral coping with depression. MSc: Master’s degree. n: normal. Psychol.: psychologist. Therap: therapist. p: pathological. Exp: experienced. SGP: support group psychotherapy. Lic: licensed. MCGT: Metacognitive Grief Therapy.

^aIncluding 2 individual sessions (orientation + data collection).

^bCompleted less than 8 of 12 sessions.

^cCompleted less than 8 of 12 sessions.

^dOnly n = 62 of 135 participants were randomly assigned (n = 32 to treatment and n = 30 to control group).

^eGroup program included 1 individual session (confrontation with the worst moment) and had 2 group sessions per week.

^fCalculated from Flow-Chart on p. 848 (8 of 20 participants dropped out of group intervention). The authors report an attrition rate of 25%.

^gParticipants had up to 20 weeks after randomization to complete the program, which also included 1 individual session before and after the group sessions.

^hCompleted less than 4 of the 12 treatment sessions.

ⁱOnly between-group effect sizes at 6-months follow-up are presented.

^jNo separate statistics for treatment and control group presented.

Figure 2. Forest plots for between-subject comparisons: treatment versus control group from pre- to post-intervention.

n: sample size at post assessment. Pre: mean at pre-assessment. Post: mean at post-assessment.

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Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in Open Science Framework at https://osf.io/r3teq/?view_only=8ed697e6dec54e62a8c2f855c91dbf5e