Psychometric properties of the German version of the Depressive and Anxious Avoidance in Prolonged Grief Questionnaire (DAAPGQ)

The Depressive and Anxious Avoidance in Prolonged Grief Questionnaire (DAAPGQ) was developed to measure depressive and anxious avoidance behaviors, which, according to cognitive-behavioral models, are supposed to play an important role in the development and maintenance of prolonged grief. The prese...

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Main Authors: Julia Treml, Michaela Nagl, Elmar Braehler, Paul A. Boelen, Anette Kersting
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2021-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8354469/?tool=EBI
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author Julia Treml
Michaela Nagl
Elmar Braehler
Paul A. Boelen
Anette Kersting
author_facet Julia Treml
Michaela Nagl
Elmar Braehler
Paul A. Boelen
Anette Kersting
author_sort Julia Treml
collection DOAJ
description The Depressive and Anxious Avoidance in Prolonged Grief Questionnaire (DAAPGQ) was developed to measure depressive and anxious avoidance behaviors, which, according to cognitive-behavioral models, are supposed to play an important role in the development and maintenance of prolonged grief. The present study aimed to develop a German version of the DAAPGQ and evaluate its psychometric properties and validity within a representative sample of the German general population (N = 2531). The German-language DAAPGQ was developed using a forward-backward translation procedure. Then, a subsample of individuals who reported having lost a significant other (N = 1371) of a representative sample was assessed with the German DAAPGQ, along with information on sociodemographic characteristics, prolonged grief symptom severity (PG-13), general anxiety (GAD-2) and depression (PHQ-2). The factor structure of the DAAPGQ was evaluated using confirmatory factor analyses, reliability by calculating internal consistency on subscale level and convergent validity by correlations between DAAPQG subscale sores with PG-13, GAD-2 and PHQ-2 sum scores. As expected, a two-factor model with correlated latent variables showed good fit to the data, replicating findings from the original version. Internal consistency was high for both subscales (Cronbach’s α .86 and .95, respectively). Convergent validity was established by theoretically expected and statistically significant positive correlations of DAAPGQ subscales with symptom severity of prolonged grief, depression, and anxiety and negative correlations with time since loss. Furthermore, the addition of depressive and anxious avoidance significantly improved the prediction of prolonged grief symptom severity over sociodemographic and loss-related information. In sum, our results suggest that the German-language DAAPGQ is a reliable and valid measure of depressive and anxious avoidance and a useful tool to improve our knowledge on the role of avoidance in prolonged grief. We also provide descriptive data to improve the applicability of the DAAPGQ for individual diagnostics.
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spelling doaj.art-fd81edfcc00441b69870854499e92a432022-12-21T23:32:25ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032021-01-01168Psychometric properties of the German version of the Depressive and Anxious Avoidance in Prolonged Grief Questionnaire (DAAPGQ)Julia TremlMichaela NaglElmar BraehlerPaul A. BoelenAnette KerstingThe Depressive and Anxious Avoidance in Prolonged Grief Questionnaire (DAAPGQ) was developed to measure depressive and anxious avoidance behaviors, which, according to cognitive-behavioral models, are supposed to play an important role in the development and maintenance of prolonged grief. The present study aimed to develop a German version of the DAAPGQ and evaluate its psychometric properties and validity within a representative sample of the German general population (N = 2531). The German-language DAAPGQ was developed using a forward-backward translation procedure. Then, a subsample of individuals who reported having lost a significant other (N = 1371) of a representative sample was assessed with the German DAAPGQ, along with information on sociodemographic characteristics, prolonged grief symptom severity (PG-13), general anxiety (GAD-2) and depression (PHQ-2). The factor structure of the DAAPGQ was evaluated using confirmatory factor analyses, reliability by calculating internal consistency on subscale level and convergent validity by correlations between DAAPQG subscale sores with PG-13, GAD-2 and PHQ-2 sum scores. As expected, a two-factor model with correlated latent variables showed good fit to the data, replicating findings from the original version. Internal consistency was high for both subscales (Cronbach’s α .86 and .95, respectively). Convergent validity was established by theoretically expected and statistically significant positive correlations of DAAPGQ subscales with symptom severity of prolonged grief, depression, and anxiety and negative correlations with time since loss. Furthermore, the addition of depressive and anxious avoidance significantly improved the prediction of prolonged grief symptom severity over sociodemographic and loss-related information. In sum, our results suggest that the German-language DAAPGQ is a reliable and valid measure of depressive and anxious avoidance and a useful tool to improve our knowledge on the role of avoidance in prolonged grief. We also provide descriptive data to improve the applicability of the DAAPGQ for individual diagnostics.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8354469/?tool=EBI
spellingShingle Julia Treml
Michaela Nagl
Elmar Braehler
Paul A. Boelen
Anette Kersting
Psychometric properties of the German version of the Depressive and Anxious Avoidance in Prolonged Grief Questionnaire (DAAPGQ)
PLoS ONE
title Psychometric properties of the German version of the Depressive and Anxious Avoidance in Prolonged Grief Questionnaire (DAAPGQ)
title_full Psychometric properties of the German version of the Depressive and Anxious Avoidance in Prolonged Grief Questionnaire (DAAPGQ)
title_fullStr Psychometric properties of the German version of the Depressive and Anxious Avoidance in Prolonged Grief Questionnaire (DAAPGQ)
title_full_unstemmed Psychometric properties of the German version of the Depressive and Anxious Avoidance in Prolonged Grief Questionnaire (DAAPGQ)
title_short Psychometric properties of the German version of the Depressive and Anxious Avoidance in Prolonged Grief Questionnaire (DAAPGQ)
title_sort psychometric properties of the german version of the depressive and anxious avoidance in prolonged grief questionnaire daapgq
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8354469/?tool=EBI
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