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Review
. 2025 Sep;91(4):2183-2225.
doi: 10.1177/00302228231171188. Epub 2023 Apr 20.

Grief Instruments in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review

Toni Zhang  1 , Karolina Krysinska  2 , Eva Alisic  2 , Karl Andriessen  2
Affiliations
Review

Grief Instruments in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review

Toni Zhang et al. Omega (Westport). 2025 Sep.

Abstract

Many children and adolescents experience the death of a close person, such as a family member or a friend. However, there is a scarcity of literature on the assessment of grief in bereaved youth. The use of validated instruments is essential to advance our knowledge of grief in children and adolescents. We conducted a systematic review, adhering to PRISMA guidelines, to identify instruments that measure grief in this population and explore their characteristics. Searches in six databases (Medline, PsycINFO, Embase, Emcare, Scopus, and Web of Science) identified 24 instruments, encompassing three categories: general-purpose grief scales, maladaptive grief scales, and specialized grief scales. We extracted data using a predetermined list of descriptive and psychometric properties. Findings indicate a need to direct research towards more stringent validation of existing instruments and the design of new instruments in line with developments in the understanding of grief in this population.

Keywords: assessment; bereavement; inventory; psychometrics; youth.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
PRISMA flow diagram.
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