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Background
Everyone, at some point in their lives, face the inevitable suffering associated with the loss of someone significant. Psychological intervention in grief has been a controversial issue considering its effectiveness and side-effects. However, known risks related to traumatic stress on crisis narrative interventions (Barbosa, Sá and Rocha, 2013) and the variability of time after loss sustain the need for evidence about crisis interventions to prevent emotional problems related to bereavement. A meta-analysis on complicated grief interventions has shown that there is a difference between the short term and long term effects of preventive and treatment strategies, in favour of the latter (Wittouck, Autreve, Jaegere, Portzky and Heeringen, 2011). However, it has been generally accepted by researchers that psychological interventions help to reduce the intensity of the mourning, promote greater resilience in the process of adjustment after the loss (Wittouck et al., 2011), and to intervene in complicated bereavement is more effective than not doing so (Currier, Neimeyer and Berman, 2008). It is extremely important to understand that each person grieves in a unique way: for example, some individuals can take years dealing with loss, leading to changes in psychosocial functioning; some may experience a high intensity of symptoms, while others might attempt to mask their pain. Therefore the treatment protocols applied in a certain case need to be adaptable to the individual needs (Wittouck et al., 2011). Grief work is a concept essential at some point in our lives; it is crucial to pay attention to the significance of changing of thoughts and emotions, to clearly see all the benefits of seeking help, as well as to recognize that mourning doesn't pass with the "cure of time" (Barbosa et al., 2013). Based on the negative results of the debriefing (Mayou, Ehlers and Hobbs, 2000) and on the positive results with cognitive-narrative therapy (Currier et al., 2008), the question formulated is whether psychologists at primary health care can help to prevent bereavement problems. In order to answer this question we developed a randomized controlled trial of an intervention manual with the following main goals: a) as primary outcome, to prevent depression symptoms, and secondarily to prevent psychotraumatic symptoms in the bereaved; b) to promote the participation in the program in order to...