Table 2 Targeted concepts, names and psychometric features of survey acceptability, appropriateness, and outcome measures

Acceptability: End of session engagement (measuring perceived session helpfulness, meaningfulness and interestingness)

3 items

11-point discrete visual analogue scales (Not helpful/ meaningful/ interesting at all to Very helpful/ meaningful/ interesting)

“How helpful did you find this session?”

N/A

 Overall program helpfulness

1 item

Four-point Likert item (Not helpful to Very helpful)

“Overall, how helpful was the program?”

N/A

 Overall program satisfaction

1 item

Four-point Likert item (Not at all satisfied to Very satisfied)

“Overall, how satisfied were you with the program?”

N/A

 Enjoyment of recreational activities

1 item

11-point scale (Not enjoyable at all to Extremely enjoyable

“Overall, on a scale of 1 to 10, how much did you enjoy the recreational activities you participated in on camp?”

N/A

 Program recommendation to other bereaved young people

1 item

Yes/no question

“Would you recommend the program to other young people who have a parent who has died from cancer?”

N/A

 Satisfaction questions (liked most, most useful, why recommend/not recommend, improvements suggestions)

4 items

Open ended

“What did you like most about the program?”

N/A

 Satisfaction with facilitators (listening, supportiveness, understanding, respectfulness, creating a safe space, taking participant views/concerns seriously, knowledge, coping strategy provision)

8 items

Six-point Likert scale (Strongly disagree to Strongly agree)

During the program, I felt that the facilitators… “listened to me”; “understood what I was going through”

N/A

Appropriateness of program topics^a (perceived usefulness/ relevance/ practicability for day-to-day life in the months following GG attendance)

9 items

Five-point Likert scale (Very unhelpful to Very helpful)

“There are ways to manage intense emotions that come from your grief”; “You share strengths and values with the person who died”

N/A

 Grief intensity – Texas Revised Inventory of Grief (TRIG; Present Feelings subscale) [49]

13 items

Five-point Likert scale (Completely false to Completely true)

“I still cry when I think about the person who died”

Present Feelings subscale scores showed sufficient internal consistency (α = .86) and split-half reliability (r = .88) [49].

 Meaning-making – Grief and Meaning Reconstruction Inventory (GMRI; Personal Growth and Valuing Life subscales) [50]

11 items, 2 subscales (Personal Growth - one’s sense of having experienced positive change and increased resilience following the loss; Valuing Life - one’s sense of desire to live life to the fullest)

Five-point Likert scale (Strongly disagree to Strongly agree).

“Since this loss, I’m a stronger person”; “I value and appreciate life more”

The GMRI (overall and its subscales) has good convergent and discriminant validity [51]. Subscales demonstrated good internal consistency (α_{Personal Growth} = .83; α_{Valuing Life} = .76) [51].

 Trauma coping abilities – Perceived Ability to Cope with Trauma Scale (PACT) [52]

20 items, 2 subscales (Trauma Focus - one’s ability to spend time processing the trauma; Forward Focus - one’s ability to move beyond the trauma)

Seven-point numeric rating scale (Not at all able to to Extremely able to

“Look for the positive in things”

The Coping Flexibility Scale shows good incremental, convergent and discriminant validity [52].

 Unmet needs – Bereaved Cancer Needs Instrument (BCNI) [15]

57 items, 7 subscales (Help and Information About Grief, Time-Out From Grief, Planning For The Future, Support From Friends, Talking To Others With Similar Experiences, Dealing With Feelings, Family Connectedness)

Four-point Likert-type scale (No need to Strong need).

e.g., “I currently need to be informed about grief and loss in a way that I can understand”

Good convergent validity with a measure of psychological distress and high internal consistency for all subscales when validated in a sample of cancer-bereaved sibling and offspring AYAs [15].