The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of an internet-based self-help intervention for older adults with prolonged grief symptoms after spousal bereavement or separation/divorce. The study design is a randomized trial with a waiting control condition of 12 weeks and a follow-up after 6 months. The investigators will test the following main hypotheses: 1. The intervention group shows a significant decrease in grief symptoms, psychological distress, depression symptoms and embitterment, and a significant increase in life satisfaction, as well as session related outcomes from baseline to 12 weeks post intervention assessment. 2. The effects in the intervention group are larger than the effects in the waiting control group. 3. These effects are stable from the post measure at 12 weeks to the 6-month follow-up.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
110
10 internet-based self-help sessions plus one supportive email a week with a cognitive-behavioural background
University of Bern
Bern, Switzerland
Grief symptoms
Texas Revised Inventory of Grief (German version, Znoj,2008; Faschingbauer, 1981)
Time frame: 12 weeks after the start of the intervention
Psychological distress
Brief Symptom Inventory (German version, Franke, 2000)
Time frame: 12 weeks after the start of the intervention
Grief symptoms
Texas Revised Inventory of Grief (German version, Znoj,2008; Faschingbauer, 1981)
Time frame: 6 months after the start of the intervention
Psychological distress
Brief Symptom Inventory (German version, Franke, 2000)
Time frame: 6 months after the start of the intervention
Depression symptoms
Beck Depression Inventory II (German version, Hautzinger, Kühne \& Keller, 2006)
Time frame: 12 weeks after the start of the intervention
Depression symptoms
Beck Depression Inventory II (German version, Hautzinger, Kühne \& Keller, 2006)
Time frame: 6 months after the start of the intervention
Satisfaction with life
Satisfaction with life scale (German version, Schumacher, 2003)
Time frame: 12 weeks after the start of the intervention
Satisfaction with life
Satisfaction with life scale (German version, Schumacher, 2003)
Time frame: 6 months after the start of the intervention
Embitterment
Embitterment questionnaire (Znoj \&, Schyder, 2014)
Time frame: 12 weeks after the start of the intervention
Embitterment
Embitterment questionnaire (Znoj \&, Schyder, 2014)
Time frame: 6 months after the start of the intervention
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