Predicting grief intensity after recent perinatal loss.

Area of Science:

• Perinatal mental health
• Psychometrics
• Grief research

Background:

• Perinatal loss can cause intense grief, necessitating tools to identify women requiring support.
• The Perinatal Grief Intensity Scale (PGIS) was developed for clinical assessment of grief intensity and follow-up needs.
• Validating the PGIS is crucial for its effective clinical application in identifying at-risk individuals.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the validity of the Perinatal Grief Intensity Scale (PGIS).
• To assess the PGIS's ability to predict future intense grief based on early post-loss scores.
• To compare the predictive accuracy of the PGIS with the established Perinatal Grief Scale (PGS).

Main Methods:

• Prospective observational study involving 103 women experiencing miscarriage, stillbirth, or neonatal death.
• Data collection included the PGIS and PGS at baseline, with follow-up PGS data at 3 months.
• Statistical analyses comprised descriptive statistics, Cronbach's alpha, ROC analysis, and confirmatory factor analysis.

Main Results:

• The PGIS demonstrated good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha ≥0.70) and its factor structure was confirmed.
• An optimal PGIS cutoff score of 3.535 was identified for predicting intense grief.
• The PGIS showed comparable performance to the PGS in identifying intense grief and was not inferior in prediction (AUC=0.78).
• A baseline PGIS score ≥3.53 significantly predicted increased grief intensity at follow-up.

Conclusions:

• The Perinatal Grief Intensity Scale (PGIS) is a valid and reliable tool for predicting intense grief following perinatal loss.
• The PGIS is comparable in predictive accuracy to the Perinatal Grief Scale (PGS) but offers a lower response burden.
• The PGIS can effectively identify women at risk for prolonged or intense grief, guiding timely clinical intervention and follow-up.