Anticipatory grief: its measurement and proposed reconceptualization

Factor analysis of an Anticipatory Grief Inventory composed of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors believed to be associated with anticipatory grief, completed by 159 male and female spouses of deceased cancer patients within three months of their loss yielded three interpretable factors: Conjugal Coping, Anticipatory Grief, and Cognitive Coping. Only Anticipatory Grief correlated significantly with measures of depression and subjective stress (rs = .36-.35), but did so positively, suggesting that, rather than serving an adaptive function, Anticipatory Grief may be a risk factor for poor early bereavement adjustment. Thus, recommendations concerning its facilitation in spouses of patients in the terminal stages of illness should be reconsidered.