The grief evaluation measure (GEM): an initial validation study.

Abstract

This article describes the development of the Grief Evaluation Measure (GEM), a new instrument designed to screen for the development of a complicated mourning response in a bereaved adult. The GEM provides a quantitative and qualitative assessment of risk factors, including the mourner's loss and medical history, coping resources before and after the death, and circumstances surrounding the death. It is designed to provide an in-depth evaluation of the bereaved adult's subjective grief experience and associated symptoms. Reliability and validity studies were conducted with two samples of bereaved adults (n = 23 and n = 92, respectively) from various clinical and support settings. Data on the two central sections of the GEM that assess the mourner's grief response and the level of symptomatology are described. Results indicate that the GEM's internal consistency and test-retest reliability are high. The GEM demonstrates good concurrent validity for established measures of bereavement, trauma, and physical and psychiatric symptoms, and good predictive validity for mourner adjustment one year after initial assessment. Plans for future development and an invitation for other researchers to collaborate with research on the GEM are also discussed.