Association Between Prolonged Grief and Attitudes Toward Reconciliation in Bereaved Survivors of the Khmer Rouge Regime in Cambodia

Abstract

Background: During the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia, about a quarter of the population died, resulting in many individuals losing close relatives. Still today, many individuals are suffering from the psychological consequences of these losses, which might also affect the process of reconciliation within the Cambodian society. The aim of this paper is therefore to investigate the association between symptoms of prolonged grief and attitudes toward reconciliation. Methods: A sample of 775 survivors of the Khmer Rouge regime who lost relatives during the conflict were interviewed about their losses and traumatic events, prolonged grief (PG; Complicated Grief Assessment Self-Report, CGA-SR), posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD Checklist-Civilian Version) and attitudes toward reconciliation (Readiness to Reconcile Inventory, RRI). Results: A higher symptom severity of PG was significantly associated with readiness to reconcile even when controlling for other relevant variables (b = −0.22; p <.001). Persons who met caseness criteria for PG were significantly less ready to reconcile, t(773) = 5.47, p <.001, than persons who did not meet caseness for PG. Conclusion: PG seems to be a relevant mental health correlate of attitudes toward reconciliation. The results of the current study underline the importance of also considering PG with regard to the reconciliation process in Cambodia and possibly also in other post-conflict regions.

Measuring Grief in the Context of Traumatic Loss: A Systematic Review of Assessment Instruments

“…The Complicated Grief Assessment Self-Report (CGA-SR; Prigerson & MaCiejewski, 2006) was used in six studies (*Barnes et al, 2012; Neria et al, 2007; Stammel et al, 2020), three of which used the same sample (Baddeley et al, 2015; Rheingold et al, 2015; Williams et al, 2018). The CGA-SR is a self-report measure that assesses symptoms of PGD, such as separation distress and associated impairment following bereavement.…”

Impact of mindfulness on irrigation water consumption

“…Between 1975 and 1979, the provision of irrigation was taken to extremes and the whole population was effectively reduced to slave labor" (Asthana, 2022(Asthana, , p. 1064) in a rural programme of mainly irrigation works. During these 4 years, millions of Cambodians suffered forced labor, torture and starvation and mass executions causing the death of about 1.7 million Cambodians-approximately one quarter of the Cambodian population at that time (Stammel et al, 2020). Engineers were among the many educated professionals who perished as a result of the Khmer Rouge's policy of evacuating the cities.…”