Table 4.

Self-constructed items to measure loneliness (after bereavement).

References	Single-item measure
Abrahams (1972)	Help-request used and categorized in (1) lonely requires a listener and (2) lonely wants to meet people
Arling (1976)	Two items (1) “Do you have as much contact as you would like with a person that you feel close to- somebody that you can trust and confide in?” (2) “Do you find yourself feeling lonely quite often, sometimes or almost never?”
Atchley (1975)	Participants could answer if they feel lonely “Lots, Some, Hardly Ever or Not all”
Bahr and Harvey (1979)	Two items (1) from Bradburn (1969): “During the past week, how often did you feel very lonely or remote from other people?” (3-point scale). (2) item “Are you as involved in community life as you would like to be?” (yes/no).
Caserta and Lund (1996)	Single item (1 = not at all lonely, 7 = very lonely)
Grimby (1993)	No scale but three dimensions of grief reactions (as rated by psychologists). Under which “low mood” = dysphoria, loneliness, crying and pessimism.
Eckholdt et al. (2018)	Two items (7-point scale)—Emotional loneliness “I feel lonely even when I am with other people” and Social loneliness “I have no really close friends.”
Kivett (1978)	Single item “Do you find yourself feeling lonely quite often, sometimes, or almost never?” 3-point scale
Lichtenstein et al. (1996)	Loneliness: Single item “How often do you feel lonely?” 3-point scale “almost never or never” (0) to “almost always or always” (3).
Savikko et al. (2006)	Loneliness: 1 item “Do you suffer from loneliness?” 1 = seldom or never, 2 = sometimes and 3 = often or always
Stroebe et al. (1996)	Self-constructed measure of social (2 items) and emotional (2 items) loneliness (based on Weiss, 1982), yes/no answers
van der Houwen et al. (2010)	Emotional loneliness, 2 items: “I feel lonely even if I am with other people”; “I often feel lonely.” 7-point scale ranging from 1 (totally disagree) to 7 (totally agree).