Validation of the brief grief questionnaire among Chinese bereaved family members

Prolonged grief disorder (PGD) is associated with substantial psychological distress and functional impairment among bereaved individuals. Given the cultural and family-centered context of bereavement in China, validated brief screening tools are needed to suppor​t ​early identification of prolonged grief reactions among Chinese bereaved individuals. To evaluate the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the Brief Grief Questionnaire (BGQ) among bereaved family members in China. From May to November 2023, a cross-sectional study was conducted among 220 bereaved family members of patients with chronic diseases who died at a tertiary hospital. The BGQ was translated into Chinese and culturally adapted, and its psychometric properties were evaluated. Reliability, content validity, construct validity, and concurrent validity were assessed. The mean BGQ score was 5.6 ± 2.1, and 21.4% of participants scored ≥ 8. The overall Cronbach’s α was 0.72, and the split-half reliability was 0.73​. The item-level content validity indices ranged from 0.83​ to 1.00​, and the average scale-level content validity index was 0.9​7. Exploratory factor analysis confirmed a one-factor structure of the BGQ. The factor explained 54.745% of the variance, and item loadings ranged from 0.674 to 0.798. Confirmatory factor analysis in an independent subsample showed acceptable model fit. BGQ total scores were positively correlated with the Inventory of Complicated Grief (ICG) total scores ( r = 0.74). The Chinese version of the BGQ demonstrated acceptable preliminary psychometric properties among bereaved family members of hospitalized patients with chronic diseases in China. Its brevity and ease of administration make it a potentially useful rapid screening tool for prolonged grief reactions in clinical practice and research.