The validation of the Texas revised inventory of grief on an older Latino sample.
OBJECTIVE
Bereavement is considered to be one of the most profound experiences in older adulthood. However, assessments of emotional reactions to grief and loss have often been based on measures tested on primarily Anglo samples. This study examined the validity and factor structure of a commonly used bereavement measure on an older Latino sample.


METHODS
Using convergent and discriminant validation procedures, this instrument was tested using a purposive sample of 134 older, recently bereaved Latinos.


RESULTS
While the instrument was originally designed to measure two domains of grief: Past Behaviors and Present Feelings, confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis revealed a three-factor solution for this sample which included also Disbelief of the loss. Items within this domain included anger, rejection, and a sense of injustice.


CONCLUSIONS
This study underscores the need for improved measures in research on grief and bereavement to capture the intensity and severity of grief in a cross-cultural context.
Wilson
Steve
S
Department of Social Work, California State University, Long Beach, CA 90840, USA. stwilson@csulb.edu
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001601:Bereavement; D003469:Culture; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006117:Grief; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013781:Texas