Biopsychosocial functional impairment symptoms related to bereavement in six Latin American countries: A network analysis

The present study aimed to analyze the symptoms of grief-related functional impairment using network analysis in 1,909 individuals who had experienced the death of a loved one across six Spanish-speaking Latin American countries. The Grief Impairment Scale (GIS) was used to assess symptoms of grief-related functional impairment. The bootnet package was employed to estimate a general network, the Strength index was used to estimate centrality. The results indicated that difficulties in establishing meaningful relationships were the most central symptom in the total sample. However, a more specific analysis revealed that in Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia, difficulties in establishing meaningful relationships were the most relevant node; in El Salvador, the inability to fulfill responsibilities was central; whereas in Uruguay and Paraguay, centrality was concentrated on difficulties in cognitive processes. Moreover, network comparisons across countries indicated that, overall, the networks of grief-related functional impairment symptoms in the six countries were invariant.