Prolonged Grief Disorder among Those Who Have Lost Family Members Due to Natural Disasters: A Mixed Design Study

Abstract

This study was aimed at determining the prolonged grief levels of individuals who lost one or more relatives during the earthquakes and investigating the grief experiences of individuals whose prolonged grief levels are high. This mixed-method study was designed according to the exploratory sequential design approach. The Prolonged Grief Disorder Questionnaire (PG-13) was used, and in the qualitative phase, a semi-structured interview form was used to explore prolonged grief experiences of the participants. While 178 people participated in the descriptive part of the study, 24 people participated in the qualitative part. The mean score (32.02 +/- 10.12) of the participants who lost their loved ones in the earthquakes obtained from the Prolonged Grief Disorder Questionnaire 1 year after the earthquakes was above average. The participants whose prolonged grief disorder levels were high also stated that their functionality was negatively affected and that they had difficulty in coping with this situation.