A SHORTENED VERSION OF AN INSTRUMENT MEASURING BEREAVEMENT

The purpose of the study was to develop, a tool to measure the grief e xperience. The Grief Experience Inventory (GEI) [Sanders et al., A Man ual for the Grief Experience Inventory. C. M. Sanders, Charlotte, NC ( 1979)] was revised according to the Parkes [Bereavement: Studies of Gr ief in Adult Life. International Universities Press, New York (1972)] framework. Four hundred and eighteen subjects who had been primary car e givers for significant others prior to the loss of the person throug h death completed Revised Grief Experience (RGEI) questionnaires. The internal consistency reliability (coefficient alpha) for the RGEI was 0.93. A principal components factor rotation was performed yielding a four factor solution consistent with the theoretical structure (Parkes , 1972). Results demonstrated that the RGEI is a concise, valid, and r eliable measure sensitive to the grief experience.