MEASURING PARENTAL GRIEF AFTER CHILDHOOD CANCER: POTENTIAL USE OF THE SCL-90R

To contribute to a better understanding of the utility of the Symptom Checklist90-Revised (SCL-90R; L. Derogatis, 1983) with bereaved samples, an exploratory factor analysis was conducted on SCL-90R responses of 97 parents 2 years after the death of their child from cancer. The factor analysis revealed one significant factor that accounted for 30% of the variance in this administration. This factor included many items that reflected the theme of somatic complaints. Although generalization of these results should be undertaken cautiously because of the study's nonrandom sample, these findings suggest that physical symptomatology of the bereavement process may account for the major residual symptoms of distress in bereaved parents, at least as assessed by the SCL-90R.