Spousal bereavement in older adults: common, resilient, and chronic grief with defining characteristics.

The purpose of this study was to identify empirically patterns of grief among 141 older bereaved spouses. A longitudinal hierarchical cluster procedure with the Ward agglomeration method was used to identify distinct clusters based on grief scores. Three clusters were identified: common (49%), resilient (34%), and chronic (17%) grief.

Practice-informed research and research-informed psychotherapy.

The information processing demands of planning and conducting psychotherapy and the types of information that clinicians value potentially can inform research that is likely to be useful to clinicians. Four approaches to conducting research on psychotherapy issues-technology transfer studies, quasi-experimental single-case designs, mental health services research, and case-focused patient profiling-have the potential to inform the practicing therapist. These approaches generally are either treatment focused or patient focused, and can vary in their relevance to the individual case.

Patterns of change in mental health status during the first two years of spousal bereavement.

Patterns of change in mental health were identified for 118 recently widowed participants using the Integra Outpatient Tracking Assessment, Mental Health Index. Change was measured 4 times over the first 2 years of bereavement using a cohort sequential design. It was hypothesized that application of the psychotherapy phase model would have some use in understanding the various ways in which people grieve.