Prolonged grief and posttraumatic growth following the loss of a relative from COVID-19: Role of pandemic grief risk factors, ruminations, and perceived social support

The present study explored COVID-19-caused bereavement outcomes of individuals. Correspondingly, the predictor roles of pandemic grief risk factors (PGRF), intrusive rumination, deliberate rumination, perceived social support and its subfactors (i.e., support from family, friends, and significant other) on prolonged grief (PG) symptoms and posttraumatic growth (PTG) were investigated. The potential buffering role of perceived social support on PTG was also investigated. The sample consisted of 144 bereaved people living in Turkey who had lost their loved ones due to COVID-19, reached through purposive and snowball sampling methods on social media. Data collections tools were the Demographic Information Form, the Pandemic Grief Risk Factors (PGRF) Inventory, the Event-Related Rumination Inventory, the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, the Prolonged Grief Disorder-13, and the Post Traumatic Growth Inventory. First, a confirmatory factor analysis was performed for the Turkish-adapted PGRF inventory. The obtained data were then analyzed by performing hierarchical regression analyses and moderated mediation analyses. Findings indicated the predictor role of traumatic perception of loss, PGRF, and friends support on PG symptoms, the predictor role of age and deliberate rumination on PTG, and finally, the moderator role of family support on PTG. Within the framework of the literature, findings were discussed.