Effectiveness of a Compassion-Focused Group Bereavement Intervention on Grief Intensity, Difficulties in Emotion Regulation, and Self-Compassion among Bereaved Women: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Introduction: Grief is a universal experience with profound psychological effects. This study examined the effectiveness of a compassion-focused group bereavement intervention on grief intensity, emotion regulation difficulties, and self-compassion in bereaved women. Method: A randomized controlled trial with pretest–posttest–follow-up design was conducted. Twenty-seven bereaved women from Mashhad, Iran, were purposively sampled and randomly assigned to intervention (n = ۱۳) or control (n = ۱۴) groups. The intervention comprised ten weekly ۹۰-minute compassion-focused grief sessions. Outcomes were measured at pre-test, post-test, and follow-up using the Inventory of Complicated Grief (ICG, Prigerson et al., ۱۹۹۵), Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS, Gratz & Roemer, ۲۰۰۴), and Self-Compassion Scale (SCS, Neff, ۲۰۰۳), and analyzed with mixed repeated-measures ANOVA. Results: The intervention significantly reduced Grief Intensity (F (۲,۲۴)=۹.۸۴, p=۰.۰۰۱, η²_p=۰.۴۵۱), Emotion Regulation Difficulties (F(۲,۲۴)=۱۱.۳۷, p<۰.۰۰۱, η²_p=۰.۴۸۵), and increased Self-Compassion (F(۲,۲۴)=۴.۸۲, p=۰.۰۱۸, η²_p=۰.۲۸۷) compared to controls. Improvements in grief and emotion regulation were maintained at follow-up, whereas self-compassion increases were most evident immediately post-intervention. Conclusion: Compassion-focused group bereavement intervention effectively alleviates grief, improves emotion regulation, and enhances self-compassion, supporting its use in therapeutic programs to promote mental health.

کلیدواژه ها:

Bereavement ، Compassion-Focused Therapy ، emotion regulation ، Grief ، self-compassion