Portuguese Assessment Toolbox for Traumatic and Bereavement Episodes in Children and Adolescents

The importance of grief symptoms in children and adolescents assessment is crucial and few studies have examined the phenomenology and correlates of prolonged grief disorder (PGD) among these groups to Portuguese population. This paper is based on two studies: a) CRIES-8 and CRIES-13; b) IPG-A and IPG-C.The Children’s Revised Impact of Event Scale (CRIES) is a brief child-friendly measure designed to screen children at risk for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and has been used to screen very large samples of at-risk-children following a wide range of traumatic events. The Inventory of Prolonged Grief for Children (IPG-C) and The Inventory of Prolonged Grief for Adolescents (IPG-A) are a child-friendly measures designed, respectively, for children and adolescents assessment of prolonged grief symptoms. It’s very important validation of grief instruments for child and adolescents because since the earlier the intervention, the greater the effectiveness and benefits for the person. We aim to translate these instruments to Portuguese and verify their psychometric characteristics. Based on snow-ball sampling strategy, we included to study a) children and adolescents (n=66) with ages between 12 and 17 years; b) children and adolescents (n=121) with ages between 8 and 18 years, in northern Portugal. The importance of grief symptoms in children and adolescents assessment is emphasized, with special applicability in support organizations, healthcare systems and schools, considering its relevance on children and adolescents well-being, mental health and academic achievement.