Toward a developmental theory of grief

In clinical practice, the Perceived Life Significance Scale (PLSS) can be useful as a measure of change in life significance across a course of therapy, as well as to stimulate discussion of life meaning with grieving clients. It can be particularly useful when therapist and client share an explicit goal of identifying and pursuing valued experiences or behaviours. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to provide an example, is a contextual behavioural style of therapy in which life significance is of primary importance as an outcome of treatment. Item content for an initial large pool of potential PLSS items was developed using qualitative data from focus group, specifically focusing on the construct of life significance. Selection of items for the final 19-item PLSS scale as well as exploratory factor analyses to identify potential subscales, involved a diverse group of bereaved undergraduate students at a large Midwestern University.