Psychometric Properties of the Farsi Version of the Complicated Spiritual Grief.

Introduction The death of a loved one, especially when it happens tragically or prematurely, could rock the foundations of our hypothetical world and our relationship with God and the world (Neimeyer, 2019) and cause deep challenges (Neimeyer, Prigerson& Davies, 2002). Complicated spiritual grief is a crisis during bereavement that endangers the bereaved person's sense of relationship with God or the religious community as they struggle to re-establish spiritual balance after the loss of a loved one (Holland, Burke, Neimeyer et al., 2014). As for complicated spiritual grief in Iran, there has been no scale to determine the psychometric properties thereof, nor has such a scale become normative in the country. The Inventory of Complicated Spiritual Grief (ICSG) is a 5-point scale that is used to measure post-grief meaning. The ICSG has been used and validated by Neimeyer et al. (2014) and Holland Burke. However, the scale has not been investigated or psychometrically tested in Iranian society. The present research aims to investigate the psychometric properties of the Persian version of the ICSG in relation to the Iranian sample. Method The research sample included 215 bereaved women in the Iranian city of Ardabil who were selected on an available basis. Then, they responded to the research tool. In the study, the ICSG (Holland, Burke and Neimeyer et al., 2014) and the Grief Experience Questionnaire (Barrett and Scott, 1989) were used. The statistical analysis was carried out using SPSS version 25 and AMOS version 24 software tools. The SPSS software was used for descriptive analysis, and the AMOS software was used for combined reliability (CR) and factor analysis. Results The face, content and structure validity of the research showed that the ICSG has appropriate validity and reliability. The scale's convergent validity was confirmed to be (AVE>0/50). The internal consistency reliability of the ICSG was assessed using composite reliability and Cronbach's alpha coefficient, and an alpha coefficient of 0.73-0.81 confirmed the reliability of the dimensions of the scale. In addition, the correlation results pertaining to the variables of the research showed that the ICSG has a significant correlation with the grief experience scale (p<0.01). Conclusion Overall, the findings of the research indicated that the 18-item Inventory of Complicated Spiritual Grief has strong internal consistency and convergent and incremental validity, and that the scale supports a two-factor model for measuring doubt in God and impairment of the person's religious faith. Thus, the results of the present research showed that the ICSG has good validity and reliability for the Iranian sample. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]