A Pilot Study of the Development of a Tool to Measure Instrumental and Intuitive Styles of Grieving

Abstract

Recently, 2 patterns of grieving (intuitive and instrumental) were identified as 2 extremes on a continuum. One of these patterns (instrumental) challenged the grief work hypothesis and traditional views of grieving. This study sought to validate an instrument to identify these 2 patterns. Sixty-three volunteer participants were randomly assigned to two groups, each receiving both the Grief Experience Inventory and the Grief Pattern Inventory. It was hypothesized that: 1) the Grief Pattern Inventory would determine the intuitive and instrument patterns of grief; and 2) these 2 patterns would be correlated with the subscales on Grief Experience Inventory to further highlight the differences between the 2 patterns. The analyzed results were found to support both of the hypotheses.