title: Applicability of the pre-death grief concept to dementia family caregivers in Asia.
abstract: Pre-death grief is prevalent among dementia family caregivers. When unaddressed, it produces adverse outcomes. With its research primarily conducted in Caucasians, its applicability to non-Caucasians is uncertain. We explore the existence and the characteristics of pre-death grief in a multi-ethnic Asian population using an established pre-death grief scale-Marwit-Meuser Caregiver Grief Inventory (MM-CGI).
  
  
  
  Seventy-two dementia family caregivers were recruited from a tertiary hospital. Existence of pre-death grief was shown by its measurability on MM-CGI, together with good internal consistency reliability and construct validity. Characteristics of pre-death grief were explored through multivariate linear regression of MM-CGI and by comparing MM-CGI scores with those from the original US study using one-sample T-test.
  
  
  
  In the Asian context, pre-death grief was measurable in a reliable and valid manner. Risk factors of pre-death grief included caring for patients with severe dementia, spousal relationship and secondary or below education. Influence of culture was palpable-Asians had more worries and felt isolation, and certain ethnicity showed more pre-death grief.
  
  
  
  Pre-death grief is applicable even to the non-Caucasian population. It bears much similarity to that in Caucasians. Yet, its expression is modified by culture. Clinicians working with non-Caucasian populations need to be sensitive to its presence and to the influence of culture on its expression. © 2015 The Authors. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatric Psychiatry, Institute of Mental Health, Singapore.
authors.forename: Tau Ming
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Liew
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001007:Anxiety; D001208:Asia; D001293:Attitude to Death; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003704:Dementia / Q000523:psychology*; D004522:Educational Status; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006117:Grief; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012044:Regression Analysis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012307:Risk Factors
keywords: Asia; Marwit-Meuser Caregiver Grief Inventory; caregiver; dementia; pre-death grief