Citation

Saban KL, Mathews HL, Collins EG, Hogan NS, Tell D, Bryant FB, Pape TL, Griffin JM, Janusek LW. Biol. Res. Nurs. 2015; 18(1): 50-59.

Affiliation

Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing, Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1099800414568661

PMID

25636402

Abstract

Grief, although traditionally conceptualized as a bereavement-related reaction, is also experienced by significant others in response to the profound cognitive and personality changes associated with a traumatic brain injury (TBI) in a loved one. Grief associated with the death of a loved one is related to increases in proinflammatory cytokines, yet it is not clear whether this is the case for grief experienced by individuals caring for a significant other with TBI. The purpose of this cross-sectional, exploratory study was to examine grief and its association with a proinflammatory cytokine, tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), in wives/partners caring for veterans with TBI. Participants completed written measures of grief, perceived stress, and depressive symptoms and provided morning saliva samples for TNF-α analysis. Participants reported levels of grief comparable to those reported in studies evaluating individuals grieving the death of a loved one. Path analysis revealed that grief was not associated with TNF-α; however, participants reporting high levels of blame/anger, a subscale of the grief scale, had higher levels of TNF-α. In addition, both grief and blame/anger were related to increased perceived stress and depressive symptoms; however, path analysis demonstrated that perceived stress and depressive symptoms did not mediate the influence of blame/anger on TNF-α. These findings suggest that blame/anger associated with grief may be related to the elevations in TNF-α exhibited by individuals caring for a loved one with TBI.

Language: en