BioPsychoSocial Assessment Tools for the Elderly - Assessment Summary Sheet

Test: Inventory of Complicated Grief (ICG)

Year: 1995

Domain: Psychological

Assessment Tool Category: Grief and Bereavement

Variations/Translations: 22-item ICG (Prigerson, 1995).

Setting: Clinical and research settings. Has not been validated for community use.

Method of Delivery: Interview administered by trained professional.

Description: This tool was developed to assess a distinct cluster of symptoms that have been found to predict long-term dysfunction. Prigerson and colleagues developed and tested this 19-item inventory with 97 elderly bereaved men and women. Exploratory factor analysis indicated that the ICG measured a single underlying construct of complicated grief. The ICG total score correlated well with measures of depressive symptoms and a general measure of grief providing evidence for the validity of the tool. Items describe an emotional, cognitive, or behavioral state associated with complicated grief.

Scoring/Interpretation: Respondents rate the frequency with which they experience each item on a 5-point scale (0-4), ranging from "never" to "always." Respondents with ICG scores greater than 25 are significantly more impaired in social, general, mental and physical health functioning and in bodily pain than those with ICG scores less than or equal to 25 (Prigerson, 1995).

Time to Administer: Information not available

Availability: ICG can be made available by contacting the author. The instrument can be viewed in the original journal article. (see references)

Software: n/a

Website: n/a

Quantitative/Qualitative: Qualitative and Quantitative

Validity (Quantitative): The concurrent validity of the ICG was assessed in relation to other scales. ICG total score showed a fairly high association with the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) total score (r = 0.67, P <0.001), the Texas Revised Inventory of Grief (TRIG) score (r = 0.87, P <0.001), and Grief Measurement Scale (GMS) score (r = 0.70, P <0.001).

Reliability (Quantitative): The internal consistency of the 19-item ICG was high (Cronback’s a = .94) (Prigerson, 1995). Overall internal consistency of the scale had improved slightly (from Cronbach’s a of 0.923 to 0.936) with the deletion of the three items from the 22-item ICG.

References:

Prigerson, H.G., Mac’lejewskib, P.K., Reynolds, V.F., Bierhals, A.J., Newsomc, J.T., Fasiczkaa, A., Franka, E., Domana, J., & Milleral, M. (1995) Inventory of Complicated Grief: A scale to measure maladaptive symptoms of loss. Psychiatry Research, 59: 65-79.

Comments: The researchers acknowledge the limits of their cross-sectional study and call for longitudinal research to determine the extent to which the ICG is able to predict individuals at risk for complicated grief responses over time.