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The Grief Experience Questionnaire (GEQ, T. W. Barrett & T. B. Scott, 1989) is a self-report measure of grief responses, including some that have been associated with grief after a suicide (e.g.,feelings of rejection, responsibility, shame, stigmatization, etc.). In this study, a sample of 350 university students who had experienced the death of a significant other completed the GEQ A principal components analysis with varimax rotation yielded an 8-factor solution with satisfactory psychometric properties. Results clearly document that the GEQ is a multidimensional measure of grief phenomenology. It is concluded that although the GEQ has broad applicability, the scale as revised herein may have a special relevance to suicide bereavement, and may be of use in both research and clinically based applications.
The death of a loved one or significant other is an event that invariably initiates the process of grief in those who were close to the deceased. Although there exists considerable vagueness and ambiguity in the literature as to what exactly is meant by the term grief (Cowles & Rodgers, 1991), the concept of grief most typically refers to the multitude of complex responses that follow the experience of separation/loss, most usually the loss of a significant other through death (Cleiren, 1993; Dershimer, 1990; Rando, 1993; Sanders, 1988; Worden, 1991). In addition to being a universal human phenomenon (Cowles & Rodgers, 1991), grief is highly individualized (Osterweis, Solomon, & Green, 1984; Parkes, 1985; Rando, 1991, 1993; Worden, 1991), multidimensional (Averill, 1968, Lindemann, 1944; Vargas, Loya, & Hodde-Vargas, 1989), and encompasses pervasive effects on the bereaved (Cowles & Rodgers, 1991; Shuchter & Zisook, 1993). These effects include multiple and interactive affective, behavioral, cognitive, social, somatic, and spiritual components (Averill, 1968; Corr, Nabe, & Corr, 1994; Cowles & Rodgers, 1991; Dershimer, 1990; Lindemann, 1944; Rando, 1993; Sanders, 1988; Worden, 1991). Further, grief is not to be understood as a state, but rather as a process (i.e., involving ever-changing reactions) that evolves over time (Carter, 1989; Dershimer, 1990; Parkes, 1972; Rando, 1993; Worden, 1991; Zisook & Shuchter, 1986).
The reliable assessment of grief reactions is clearly an important enterprise, not only in research-based efforts but also in clinical settings. In the clinical realm, professionals often find themselves working with bereaved individuals, and interventions used...