An Assessment of Grief and Psychological Distress among Jamaicans

Studies of grief have linked the experience of loss to multiple emotional, cognitive and physiological impairments but its behaviour across different cultures is insufficiently investigated. In this study, symptoms of grief and their relationship to negative psychological outcome among bereaved Jamaicans were assessed. A sample of (N=58) participants completed measures of grief and psychological distress in an online questionnaire. Findings showed that grief was strongly related to symptoms of post-traumatic stress, depression and anxiety. The cognitive response, “threatening interpretations of grief,” was also related to higher levels of distressing grief behaviour. The primary symptoms of grief identified were disbelief (difficulty accepting the loss) and longing and yearning for the deceased. There was no evidence of a diagnosable case of complicated grief (CG). Overall these findings indicate that for some bereaved Jamaican adults, the loss of a significant attachment figure negatively impacts mental health, and the expression of such a loss parallels existing models of grieving.