Latent classes of prolonged grief and other indicators of mental health in bereaved adults: A systematic review

Carina Heeke, Minita Franzen, Christine Knaevelsrud, Lonneke Lenferink*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)
90 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Background The loss of a significant other can lead to variety of responses, including prolonged grief disorder (PGD), depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Latent class analysis (LCA) is a person-centered statistical approach that finds subtypes of related cases based on item-responses. There has been a growing interest in conducting LCA on PGD, but no research synthesis exists to date. Aim of this systematic review was to provide a comprehensive overview of the state of research on LCAs on PGD and other indicators of mental health in bereaved adults and to rate the quality of these LCA studies. Method A systematic literature search was conducted in PsycInfo, Psyndex, Web of Science and PubMed in September 2022. Inclusion criteria required that a LCA was conducted including PGD and additional mental health indicators in bereaved adults. Quality of LCAs was rated using Guidelines for Reporting on Latent Class Analyses (GRoLCA). Results Twenty-one studies published between 2014 and 2022 with a median of 308 participants were reviewed. Studies comprised samples from six continents confronted with violent (k = 9), natural losses (k = 8) or both (k = 4). In addition to PGD symptoms as principal latent class indicators, studies included PTSD (k = 5), depression (k = 3), or both (k = 10). The majority of studies identified three (k = 16, 76%) or four latent classes (k = 4, 19%). Most studies found a resilient (k = 19, 91%) and a high symptom (k = 20, 95.2%) class. Fourteen studies (66.7%) found classes predominantly marked by PGD symptoms. Discussion Despite the diversity of included samples and LCA indicators of mental health, several types of latent classes were similar across studies. Caution, however, is warranted when comparing results across studies, since inconsistencies about interpreting and reporting LCA models limited the comparability of studies. Recommendations to improve the quality of LCA reporting are provided.
Original languageEnglish
Article number100654
JournalJournal of Affective Disorders Reports
Volume14
Early online date7 Sept 2023
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Dec 2023

Keywords

  • Latent class analysis
  • Systematic review
  • Prolonged grief disorder
  • PTSD
  • Depression
  • UT-Gold-D

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