Bereavement dyadic coping questionnaire: Development and validation

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Family Studies
• Sociology

Background:

• Traditional bereavement coping research primarily focuses on individual adjustment.
• Growing recognition of the importance of family-level and dyadic coping processes in grief.
• The concept of bereavement dyadic coping (BDC) highlights the relational aspect of managing loss.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a comprehensive questionnaire to measure bereavement dyadic coping (BDC).
• To provide a quantitative tool for assessing how couples navigate grief together.
• To facilitate future research on the impact of dyadic coping on bereaved families.

Main Methods:

• Item generation and expert review for the Bereavement Dyadic Coping Questionnaire (BDCQ).
• Psychometric evaluation involving 241 individuals from bereaved families in China.
• Factor analysis to identify underlying dimensions of dyadic coping in bereavement.

Main Results:

• Factor analysis identified four key dimensions: direct loss-oriented, indirect loss-oriented, restoration-oriented, and collaborative coping.
• The BDCQ demonstrated satisfactory internal consistency and test-retest reliability.
• The questionnaire exhibited good convergent and divergent validity, confirming its accuracy.

Conclusions:

• The Bereavement Dyadic Coping Questionnaire (BDCQ) is the first instrument of its kind for measuring dyadic coping in bereavement.
• The validated BDCQ offers a reliable tool for quantitative research on couple bereavement.
• This measure will enable further exploration of how dyadic coping influences bereaved individuals and families.