MEASURING GRIEF AFTER SUDDEN VIOLENT DEATH - ZEEBRUGGE BEREAVED AT 30MONTHS

The Expanded Texas Inventory of Grief was used to measure the intensit y of grief reactions in those bereaved by the Zeebrugge Disaster 30 mo nths on. ''View of Life'' items were also included. The ETIG scores re ported confirm the view that those bereaved by disaster or other sudde n death score higher than those affected by bereavements which are exp ected. Further, the scores of the bereaved, who did not experience the impact, are somewhat higher than the scores of the survivors, who did , on all the measures used. The ETIG as a whole correlates highly with measures of general psychological symptoms and intrusive and avoidant trauma reactions, although there are indications that each measure re lates to different areas of symptoms. There is strong support for the idea that avoidance and denial are central to prolonged grief reaction s as well as to post-traumatic reactions. ''View of Life'' items did n ot correlate with other measures and seem to have little value in pred icting psychological symptoms. The use of these items, which appear in later revisions of the scale (TRIGVOL) may indicate that this particu lar version has reduced clinical utility. A short form of the ETIG is suggested.