Relation between alexithymia and psychological responses of grief before the loss of health in women with cancer

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Alexithymia has not been studied in relation to the Kübler-Ross psychological responses of grief. The aim of this research was to study the association and predict psychological responses of grief with alexithymia, religiosity, level of schooling, and economic income. The scale of psychological responses of grief before the loss of health and Toronto alexithymia scale were administered to a non-probability sample of 120 women with cancer. Alexithymia predicted greater negative affect reaction with a large effect size, but it was independent of positive attitude. Lower economic income predicted greater positive attitude with a medium effect size. Religious conviction predicted greater positive attitude with a small effect size. Although religious practice had a greater relationship to psychological responses of grief than to religious conviction, it offered worst fit. It is concluded that the studied variables have significant effects on the psychological responses of grief.