Interventions for Prolonged Grief Disorder in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review

Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD) was added as a new diagnosis to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5 Text Revision (DSM-5-TR). Research on treatment interventions for PGD has focused primarily on adults. However, due to developmental differences, children and adolescents may experience grief differently than adults. There is a need to tailor interventions to children and adolescent populations, but there is a lack of consensus on best practices for treating PGD in these populations. The purpose of this study was to review existing interventions for PGD in children and adolescents to better inform clinicians working with this population. A systematic review was conducted through Google Scholar, APAPsychNet, and by following citations. Studies were reviewed for participant age, prolonged grief symptoms or diagnosis, intervention, and outcomes. Ten studies were included for review with eight interventions identified. Results for each intervention were found to be generally positive in reducing PGD symptoms. Interventions were grouped by modality including group treatments, hybrid treatments (combined group or individual therapy with family therapy), family treatment, and individual treatment. Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT), Attachment Theory and Multidimensional Grief Theory were common theoretical bases for interventions and all shared elements of psychoeducation and integrating knowledge about the loss with existing knowledge. Involvement of surviving parents in treatment was found to be a common element across most child and adolescent interventions and was not included in PGD treatment for adults. This review was limited in scope due to lack of research on child and adolescent populations for PGD treatment and heterogeneity of intervention types. However, preliminary findings support the efficacy of interventions for PGD in children and adolescents and highlight a key difference in treatment for these populations.