DEVELOPMENT OF A SHORT FORM INVENTORY TO ASSESS GRIEF IN CAREGIVERS OF DEMENTIA PATIENTS

ABSTRACT

This article describes the derivation of a short-form of the Marwit-Meuser Caregiver Grief Inventory (MM-CGI), an inventory designed to measure grief in caregivers of persons with progressive dementia. It presents initial reliability and validity data and describes ways to use the inventory both clinically and scientifically. The resulting MM-CGI Short Form, presented here in its entirety, is comprised of 18 items and, like its full-form relative, is self-scoring and yields a Total Grief score and sub-scale scores measuring factors representing Personal Sacrifice Burden, Heartfelt Sadness and Longing, and Worry and Felt Isolation.

This research was supported by a grant from the Alzheimer's Association (1999-PRG-1730). We are grateful to Dr. John C. Morris, Co-Director of the Washington University ADRC and Director of the Memory & Aging Project, and his capable staff for their support of this project through facility usage, subject recruitment, and CDR scoring assistance. We are thankful to the Alzheimer's Association, St. Louis Chapter, and Dr. Sara Sanders, Department of Social Work, University of Iowa, for their kind assistance in subject recruitment. We also wish to thank Dr. John Chibnall of St. Louis University Medical School and Dr. Kim Powlishta of Washington University School of Medicine for their help in statistical analysis. Drs. Meuser and Marwit contributed equally to all phases of this project.

Notes

¹For additional references on grief and dementia, see Table 1 in Meuser, Marwit, and Sanders (2004).

Note. N = 292.

**p < .01 (2-tailed).

Note. n = 131–166 (due to missing values).

**p < .01 (2-tailed).