Table 1.
Baseline Comparison of Treatment Groups
| Characteristic | Groupa | Test Statisticb |
P Value | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All (N = 151) | IPT (n = 77) | CGT (n = 74) | |||
| Age, mean (SD) | 66.1 (8.9) | 66.5 (8.8) | 65.7 (9.0) | 0.56 | .57 |
| Male sex | 28 (18.5) | 16 (20.8) | 12 (16.2) | 0.52 | .47 |
| Race/ethnicity | |||||
| White | 130 (86.1) | 68 (88.3) | 62 (83.8) | 0.65 | .42 |
| Hispanic or Latino | 12 (7.9) | 8 (10.4) | 4 (5.4) | 1.28 | .26 |
| Educational level | |||||
| High school or less | 16 (10.6) | 12 (15.6) | 4 (5.4) | 7.83 | .05 |
| Partial college | 28 (18.5) | 9 (11.7) | 19 (25.7) | ||
| Completed college | 28 (18.5) | 14 (18.2) | 14 (18.9) | ||
| Postgraduate | 79 (52.3) | 42 (54.5) | 37 (50.0) | ||
| Marital status | |||||
| Never married | 26 (17.2) | 13 (16.9) | 13 (17.6) | 1.18 | .76 |
| Married | 29 (19.2) | 17 (22.1) | 12 (16.2) | ||
| Separated/divorced | 25 (16.6) | 11 (14.3) | 14 (18.9) | ||
| Widowed (not remarried) | 71 (47.0) | 36 (46.8) | 35 (47.3) | ||
| Person who died | |||||
| Spouse/partner | 70 (46.4) | 38 (49.4) | 32 (43.2) | 1.96 | .58 |
| Parent | 41 (27.2) | 22 (28.6) | 19 (25.7) | ||
| Child | 28 (18.5) | 11 (14.3) | 17 (23.0) | ||
| Other | 12 (7.9) | 6 (7.8) | 6 (8.1) | ||
| Violent death | 20 (13.2) | 10 (13.0) | 10 (13.5) | 0.01 | .92 |
| Time since loss, median (range), y | 3.2 (0.5–45.3) | 2.7 (0.5–38.1) | 3.9 (0.5–45.3) | z = 0.39 | .69 |
| MDD | |||||
| Current | 69 (45.7) | 33 (42.9) | 36 (48.6) | 0.51 | .48 |
| Lifetime | 102 (67.5) | 51 (66.2) | 51 (68.9) | 0.12 | .72 |
| Panic disorder | |||||
| Current | 18 (11.9) | 7 (9.1) | 11 (14.9) | 1.20 | .27 |
| Lifetime | 28 (18.5) | 10 (13.0) | 18 (24.3) | 3.21 | .07 |
| PTSD | |||||
| Current | 23 (15.2) | 7 (9.1) | 16 (21.6) | 4.59 | .03 |
| Lifetime | 31 (20.5) | 11 (14.3) | 20 (27.0) | 3.75 | .046 |
| Current generalized anxiety | 37 (24.5) | 20 (26.0) | 17 (23.0) | 0.18 | .67 |
| ICG score, mean (SD)c | 46.1 (9.4) | 46.0 (9.7) | 46.1 (9.1) | −0.09 | .93 |
| WSAS score, mean (SD)d | 22.0 (10.3) | 21.8 (10.0) | 22.3 (10.8) | −0.27 | .79 |
| GRAQ score, mean (SD)e | 23.9 (13.4) | 23.9 (14.1) | 23.9 (12.7) | −0.02 | .99 |
| BDI score, mean (SD)f | 21.3 (9.0) | 20.5 (8.3) | 22.4 (9.7) | −1.22 | .23 |
| Suicidal thinking since the CG-related death | 90 (59.6) | 44 (57.1) | 46 (63.0) | 0.54 | .46 |
| CGI severity rating | |||||
| Normal | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.93 | .59 |
| Borderline ill | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Mildly ill | 2 (1.5) | 2 (2.9) | 0 | ||
| Moderately ill | 46 (34.8) | 23 (33.8) | 23 (35.9) | ||
| Markedly ill | 78 (59.1) | 40 (58.8) | 38 (59.4) | ||
| Severely ill | 6 (4.5) | 3 (4.4) | 3 (4.7) | ||
| Antidepressant use | 33 (21.9) | 15 (19.5) | 18 (24.3) | 0.52 | .47 |
| Anxiolytic use | 24 (15.9) | 12 (15.6) | 12 (16.2) | 0.01 | .92 |
| Nonpsychotropic prescription medications used, No. | |||||
| Mean | 2.1 | 2.1 | 2.2 | −0.16 | .87 |
| Median (range) | 1 (0–10) | 1 (0–8) | 2 (0–10) | ||
| Psychotropic prescription medications used, No. | |||||
| Mean | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.8 | −0.75 | .46 |
| Median (range) | 0 (0–5) | 0 (0–5) | 0.5 (0–4) | ||
| Use of psychotropic medicines | 67 (44.4) | 30 (39.0) | 37 (50.0) | 1.86 | .17 |
| MMSE total score, mean (SD) | 28.2 (1.6) | 28.1 (1.6) | 28.2 (1.6) | −0.23 | .82 |
Abbreviations: BDI, Beck Depression Inventory; CG, complicated grief; CGI, Clinical Global Impression Scale; CGT, CG treatment; GRAQ, Grief-Related Avoidance Questionnaire; ICG, Inventory of Complicated Grief; IPT, interpersonal psychotherapy; MDD, major depressive disorder; MMSE, Mini-Mental State Examination; PTSD, posttraumatic stress disorder; WSAS, Work and Social Adjustment Scale.
Unless otherwise indicated, data are expressed as number (percentage) of patients. Percentages have been rounded and might not total 100.
χ2 Tests were used to compare group differences at baseline for categorical outcomes. Two-sample t tests were used for normally distributed continuous outcomes; otherwise, Wilcoxon rank sum tests were used.
Total score range, 0 to 76.
Total score range, 0 to 40.
Total score range, 0 to 60.
Total score range, 0 to 63.