Predictors of grief among spouses of deceased cancer patients

A structured interview was administered to 112 spouses of deceased cancer patients about the circumstances of theii spouse’s death. The CES-D depression scale also was administered; and the respondents were asked questions about the severity of theii grief. Spouses who reported a high degree of emotional distress following the death tended to be younger, lived alone, said they hac been upset just before the death, had avoided thinking about the possibility of their spouses death, and reported that the patient hac died at home. No significant associations were found between the spouses' emotional distress and their gender, the patient’s diagnose: or discomfort just before death, or whether the spouse had talkec with the patient about death. The findings were not consistent withthe anticipatory grief hypothesis and indicated that more complex conceptualizations are needed to predict the degree of postbereavement distress a spouse will experience.