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Table 3 Acute grief experiences and reactions, and the association with long-term unresolved grief

From: Acute and long-term grief reactions and experiences in parentally cancer-bereaved teenagers

 

RATIOS

ODDS RATIOS (ORs)

ODDS RATIOS ADJUSTED FOR BACKGROUND VARIABLES1

ODDS RATIOS ADJUSTED FOR BACKGROUND AND FAMILY-RELATED VARIABLES2

ODDS RATIOS ADJUSTED FOR BACKGROUND, FAMILY AND HEALTH CARE-RELATED VARIABLES3

 

N unresolved grief4/N grieving style (%)

OR (95% CI)

OR (95% CI)

OR (95% CI)

OR (95% CI)

DID NOT HAVE AN OKAY WAY TO GRIEVE

 Entire group Agree

187/290 (64)

4.32 (2.99–6.28)

4.23 (2.91–6.22)

4.19 (2.88–6.16)

4.14 (2.77–6.23)

 Entire group Disagree

69/233 (30)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

 Male participants Agree

75/118 (64)

5.85 (3.41–10.25)

6.23 (3.59–11.07)

6.64 (3.79–11.98)

6.72 (3.65–12.84)

 Male participants Disagree

31/135 (23)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

 Female participants Agree

112/172 (65)

2.95 (1.77–4.96)

2.94 (1.75–4.98)

2.84 (1.68–4.85)

2.73 (1.54–4.89)

 Female participants Disagree

38/98 (39)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

NUMBING AND POSTPONING

 Entire group Agree

120/210 (57)

1.73 (1.22–2.47)

1.68 (1.17–2.40)

1.66 (1.16–2.38)

1.57 (1.07–2.30)

 Entire group Disagree

137/315 (43)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

 Male participants Agree

48/94 (51)

1.8 (1.08–3.03)

1.83 (1.09–3.09)

1.91 (1.13–3.25)

2.08 (1.16–3.79)

 Male participants Disagree

59/161 (37)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

 Female participants Agree

72/116 (62)

1.59 (0.98–2.61)

1.51 (0.92–2.50)

1.58 (0.95–2.63)

1.43 (0.82–2.48)

 Female participants Disagree

78/154 (51)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

CONCEALED GRIEF (TO PROTECT MY LIVING PARENT)

 Entire group Agree

80/133 (60)

1.83 (1.23–2.73)

1.71 (1.14–2.60)

1.64 (1.08–2.53)

1.56 (1.00–2.45)

 Entire group Disagree

177/391 (45)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

 Male participants Agree

25/43 (58)

2.19 (1.13–4.31)

2.27 (1.16–4.50)

2.55 (1.27–5.19)

3.41 (1.55–7.77)

 Male participants Disagree

82/211 (39)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

 Female participants Agree

55/90 (61)

1.41 (0.84–2.37)

1.45 (0.86–2.47)

1.20 (0.69–2.09)

1.04 (0.57–1.88)

 Female participants Disagree

95/180 (53)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

OVERWHELMED BY GRIEF

 Entire group Agree

81/131 (62)

2.02 (1.35–3.04)

1.85 (1.21–2.86)

1.81 (1.18–2.80)

1.88 (1.19–2.98)

 Entire group Disagree

175/393 (45)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

 Male participants Agree

17/28 (61)

2.35 (1.06–5.40)

2.54 (1.13–5.94)

2.73 (1.20–6.45)

3.22 (1.29–8.34)

 Male participants Disagree

90/227 (40)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

 Female participants Agree

64/103 (62)

1.56 (0.95–2.59)

1.59 (0.96–2.67)

1.53 (0.91–2.59)

1.64 (0.95–2.88)

 Female participants Disagree

85/166 (51)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

DISCOURAGED FROM GRIEVING

 Entire group Agree

54/78 (69)

2.68 (1.62–4.56)

2.37 (1.41–4.08)

2.31 (1.37–3.99)

2.45 (1.42–4.32)

 Entire group Disagree

203/445 (46)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

 Male participants Agree

9/17 (53)

1.60 (0.59–4.39)

1.67 (0.61–4.64)

1.75 (0.64–4.92)

2.1472 (0.72–6.54)

 Male participants Disagree

98/237 (41)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

 Female participants Agree

45/61 (74)

2.76 (1.49–5.32)

2.79 (1.50–5.41)

2.65 (1.41–5.19)

2.74 (1.41–5.53)

 Female participants Disagree

105/208 (50)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

PRESSURED TO GRIEVE

 Entire group Agree

46/91 (51)

1.08 (0.69–1.69)

1.07 (0.68–1.71)

1.04 (0.65–1.66)

1.10 (0.67–1.80)

 Entire group Disagree

211/433 (49)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

 Male participants Agree

18/39 (46)

1.22 (0.61–2.43)

1.25 (0.62–2.51)

1.30 (0.64–2.62)

1.76 (0.79–3.92)

 Male participants Disagree

89/216 (41)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

 Female participants Agree

28/52 (54)

0.91 (0.50–1.68)

0.93 (0.50–1.73)

0.87 (0.47–1.64)

0.85 (0.44–1.68)

 Female participants Disagree

122/217 (56)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

1.0 (ref)

  1. Acute grief experiences and reactions: first 6 months post-loss. Long-term unresolved grief: 6–9 years post-loss. Agree: moderately agree and completely agree; Disagree: do not agree and slightly agree
  2. Variables retained after the logistic regression in the forward selection procedure, using the variables as predictors of unresolved grief, with selection being based on likelihood ratio p-values and the entry criterion of P < 0.25: 1Odds ratio adjusted for background variables: gender (in the entire group, not used in the gender-stratified data analysis), age at loss. 2Odds ratio adjusted for family-related variables: worried about the surviving parent. 3Odds ratio adjusted for health care-related variables: the teenager’s perception of the health care professionals’ efforts to cure the parent; the teenager’s perception of the health care professionals’ efforts to prolong the parent’s life; whether the family had been given end-of-life information about the disease, treatment and death by a physician; whether the teenager had talked with their dying parent about what was important; awareness time at which the teenager realized that the parent would die from the disease; awareness time at which the teenager realized that death was imminent (hours or days)
  3. 4Missing values for unresolved grief (not included in the analyses): n = 63; demographic variables: n = 89; family-related variables: n = 13; health care-related variables: n = 115. Missing values are due to participants’ response of “I don’t know or remember” to selected variables. CI Confidence interval. OR Odds ratio
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BMC Palliative Care

ISSN: 1472-684X

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