Italian Grief and Meaning Reconstruction Inventory (GMRI): Exploratory, Confirmatory and Network Analyses

Abstract

The current study was conducted to develop and validate an Italian translation of the Grief and Meaning Reconstruction Inventory (GMRI) and evaluate its psychometric properties in a sample of 297 bereaved adults. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses established that the 16-item Italian GMRI yielded five clearly interpretable factors (Continuing Bonds, Personal Growth, Sense of Peace, Valuing Life and Emptiness & Meaninglessness). The instrument demonstrated good reliability and robust convergent validity, through the scale’s significant inverse correlation with the Inventory of Complicated Grief and general distress, depression, stress, and anxiety. Network analysis of the items indicated that Continuing Bonds and Valuing Life could potentially assume central positions in the process of constructing meaning in the face of bereavement. In summary, the study suggests that the Italian version of the GMRI is valid and reliable instrument for assessing reconstruction of meaning after the loss of a loved one among the bereaved Italian population.

Keywords:

• Grief
• bereavement
• meaning
• Italian
• network analysis

Acknowledgments

Prof. Renato Pisanti.

Ethical approval

The research was conducted according to the Declaration of Helsinki for medical research involving human participants and was approved by the Istituto di Psicoterapia PsicoUmanitas in Rome, Italy. All participants gave their online consent to participate in the study. The identity of the participants was anonymous, and the data were stored in an encrypted online archive, accessible only to the authors of the present study.

Author contributions

All authors contributed significantly to the research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data are available in case of a request.

Additional information

Funding

None.

Notes on contributors

Paolo Soraci

Paolo Soraci: Psychologist, data analyst and PhD student at the Niccolo Cusano University, Rome, Italy.

Valeria Moriconi

Valeria Moriconi: Psychooncologist specialized in bereavement at Fundacion Aladina, professor at Universidad Europea de Madrid.

Danilo Moggia

Danilo Moggia: PhD, is a clinical psychologist and psychotherapist. He is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Trier, Germany. Danilo specialises in quantitative methods applied to psychotherapy research. He is conducting research in precision psychotherapyand personalized mental health care and is the author of numerous scientific articles and book chapters.

Francesco Maria Melchiori

Francesco Maria Melchiori: Professor of the courses ‘Educational Research and Data Analysis’ (M-PED/04) at the Bachelor of Arts in Humanities and ‘Educational Research and Data Analysis Advanced Course’ (M-PED/04) at the Master of Arts in Humanities. Niccolo Cusano University, Rome.

Carla Di Bernardo

Carla Di Bernardo: Psychology expert, Rome, Italy.

Luca Orati

Luca Orati: Psychology expert, Rome, Italy.

Elisa Chini

Elisa Chini: Clinical and rehabilitation psychologist. Enrolled in the first year of the Iefcos School of Specialisation in Rome.

Eleonora Guaitoli

Eleonora Guaitoli: Doctor and expert in psychology.

Roberta Tiozzo

Roberta Tiozzo: Expert in education and training.

Alessandra Rossi

Alessandra Rossi: Thanatologist.

Sabina Spagna

Sabina Spagna: Psychologist, Professor at Niccolo Cusano University, Rome.

Laura Abbatuccolo

Laura Abbatuccolo: Psychology expert, Rome, Italy.

Ylenia Bastianelli

Ylenia Bastianelli: PhD student at the Niccolo Cusano University, Rome, Italy.

Francesco Grieco

Francesco Grieco: Psychology expert.

Robert A. Neimeyer

Robert A. Neimeyer: PhD, directs the Portland Institute for Loss and Transition, aglobal online training institute in grief therapy, and maintains an active consulting andcoaching practice. Neimeyer has published over 600 journal articles and book chaptersas well as 35 books, including New Techniques of Grief Therapy and The Handbook of Grief Therapies and serves as Editor of Death Studies. He is currently working to advance a more adequate theory of grieving as a meaning-making process.