Developing an online intervention program for prolonged grief disorder and testing its effectiveness with a randomized control trial

This study aimed to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of an online grief intervention program for young adults who have experienced loss. A total of 46 individuals aged 18-25 were recruited using convenience sampling. Participants were randomly assigned to either the experimental-group (N=23) or the control-group (N=23). In the pre-test phase, both groups completed the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Psychological Well-Being Questionnaire (PWBQ), PTSD Checklist (PCL-5), Grief and Meaning Reconstruction Inventory (GMRI), and Prolonged Grief Scale (PG- 13). The experimental-group underwent a 7-session intervention over 2 weeks, while the control-group was placed on a waiting list. After two weeks, the same measures were administered again as post-tests. The results showed no significant differences in pre-test scores between the experimental, control, and drop-out groups. Mixed MANOVA analyses revealed that the changes in participants' scores from pre-test to post-test were statistically significant at the levels of time, group, and the interaction between the two. The control-group showed no significant changes from the pre-test to the post-test. In contrast, the experimental-group showed significant reductions in PTSD (MDifference= 9.04, p=.00, CI 95% [3.05, 15.03]) and depression (MDifference= 9.47, p=.00, CI 95% [5.54, 13.41]) scores, as well as a significant increase in meaning- reconstruction (MDifference=-9.39, p=.00, CI 95% [-14.76-4.01]). However, there were no significant changes in PGD symptoms (MDifference= 0.30, p=.86, CI 95% [-3.29, 3.90]), and only a minimal increase in well-being scores (MDifference=-2.26, p=.13, CI 95% [-5.28, 0.76]). As a result of this study, it was concluded that the developed intervention program is promising, feasible, and can be further developed for future research.The theoretical background suggesting that the loss-oriented and confrontational nature of the intervention may explain these findings, along with the theories in the literature on this topic, has been discussed alongside empirical findings from other studies.