Description

The Inventory of Complicated Spiritual Grief (ICSG) is an assessment tool designed to measure and evaluate spiritual grief arising from loss or death, especially when the grief is complicated by the spiritual or religious dimensions of the experience. This tool was developed to support the management of grief associated with spiritual turmoil and the impact of loss on a person’s spiritual and personal life.

Analysis

The ICSG evaluates various aspects of spiritual grief through questions that address:

Spiritual Doubt: Examines the doubt or uncertainty that may have been triggered by the loss regarding the individual’s spiritual or religious beliefs.
Loss of Spiritual Purpose: Assesses whether the loss has disrupted the individual’s sense of purpose or direction in life.
Search for Meaning: Evaluates the individual’s efforts to find new meaning or understanding of their grief within the spiritual or religious dimension of the loss.
Emotional Impact: Measures the emotional consequences of spiritual grief on the individual’s psychological state.
Responses are typically provided on a Likert scale (e.g., from “Strongly agree” to “Strongly disagree”), and scores provide insight into the severity of the spiritual grief experienced.

Purpose

The primary goals of the ICSG are:

Assessment of Spiritual Grief: To understand the intensity and impact of spiritual grief related to loss or bereavement.
Support for Therapeutic Interventions: To provide data that informs the development of therapeutic strategies addressing the spiritual dimensions of grief.
Monitoring of Progress: To track the course of spiritual grief and changes in an individual’s spiritual well-being during the recovery process.

Scoring

Scoring for the ICSG involves:

Total Score: Calculated by summing the responses across the scale items. Higher scores indicate more severe spiritual grief.
Analysis Categories: Results are divided into categories to help identify and interpret the different aspects of spiritual grief.

Bibliography

Park, C. L., & Folkman, S. (1997). Meaning in the Context of Stress and Coping. In Handbook of Stress: Theoretical and Clinical Aspects.
Neimeyer, R. A. (2001). Meaning Reconstruction & the Experience of Loss. American Psychological Association.
Pargament, K. I. (1997). The Psychology of Religion and Coping: Theory, Research, Practice. Guilford Press.