| Abstract: | This study investigated 4 types of outcome over a 6-month follow-up period for 84 psychiatric outpatients who had been treated for complicated grief using short-term group therapy. The 4 types differed in regard to whether and when patients achieved clinically significant change on a primary grief outcome variable. Approximately half of the patients achieved clinically significant change by the end of treatment and maintained it over follow-up (maintenance). Another quarter of the patients reported clinically significant change, but only at follow-up (delayed recovery). A few patients achieved clinically significant change at the end of treatment, but not at follow-up (relapse). Finally, nearly a quarter of the patients failed to achieve clinically significant change (nonrecovery). The findings suggest that investigators look beyond the end of treatment when assessing improvement in patients treated with short-term group therapy for complicated grief. Inclusion of delayed recovery patients can substantially modify conclusions about the usefulness of short-term therapies for complicated grief. Delayed recovery patients differed from the other types of patients on greater perceived social support and greater change during the follow-up period. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
