Effect of a Brief Family-Based Treatment on Complicated Grief in Bereaved Older Adults

The current study compared the effectiveness of family-based complicated grief therapy with individual-based complicated grief therapy on improvement in complicated grief symptoms of bereaved older adults.

Two community senior centers referred 29 older adults who lost their spouses. The study used a single-blinded randomized trial design, comparing family-based complicated grief therapy with individual-based complicated grief therapy on complicated grief symptoms and social impairment.

Relative to individual-based complicated grief therapy, participants in the family-based complicated grief therapy group demonstrated improvement in social impairments and complicated grief symptoms.

The findings suggest that a family-based delivery model for complicated grief may be superior to an individually provided approach in reducing complicated grief symptoms, and in improving work and social functions in bereavement.