BGQ: Brief Grief Questionnaire

What this assessment is

The Brief Grief Questionnaire, or BGQ, is a five-item screen for grief that may be persistent and disruptive.

It produces a total from 0 to 10. Higher scores indicate more problems associated with grief.

The BGQ is a screening tool. It does not diagnose prolonged grief disorder.

That distinction matters.

The questionnaire was developed before prolonged grief disorder entered current diagnostic systems. Its original language and thresholds do not map directly onto every current diagnostic requirement.

Who it was designed for

The original BGQ study involved adults in lower Manhattan after the September 11 attacks. Participants completed the measure about 16 to 19 months after the deaths.

Later research has studied the BGQ in other bereaved adult populations and languages. A Japanese population study evaluated it outside the setting in which it was developed.

Evidence from one bereavement setting does not establish the same threshold for every age, culture, language, or type of loss.

Timing matters too.

This page covers the original five-item BGQ. It does not cover longer grief measures or modified forms.

How it is administered

The BGQ can be completed as a self-report questionnaire or read aloud in an interview.

Each response receives 0, 1, or 2 points. The form asks about current grief-related difficulties but does not set a fixed recent recall period.

Completion usually takes one or two minutes.

All five responses are needed for the standard total. The published sources do not provide a general rule for replacing a missing response.

Use complete data.

What it measures

The five questions cover interference from grief, avoidance of reminders, intrusive thoughts, emotional numbness, and difficulty reconnecting with life.

These problems can overlap, but the BGQ reports one total rather than separate domain scores.

The ICG is a longer 19-item measure of grief symptoms. It provides more detail but still cannot make a diagnosis by itself.

Neither measure determines whether a person's grief is normal or abnormal from a score alone. Timing, culture, circumstances of the death, and day-to-day functioning all matter.

How scoring works

Score each of the five responses from 0 to 2, then add them.

The total ranges from 0 to 10. There are no reverse-scored questions and no standard subscales.

A higher result means that the person endorsed more grief-related difficulty. It does not show which problem is most important.

Scores need context.

Do not calculate a standard total from fewer than five valid responses unless a specific validated protocol provides a missing-response rule.

How to interpret a BGQ score

There is no single follow-up boundary used by every BGQ protocol.

Name the rule.

A 2021 clinical review describes scores of 0 to 4 as no indication, 5 to 7 as subthreshold, and 8 to 10 as probable prolonged grief. These are screening groups, not diagnostic severity bands.

A separate University of Wisconsin protocol uses a score of 4 or more to prompt follow-up. That lower boundary favors identifying more people for review.

State the selected rule and its source whenever a score is categorized. A result near a boundary should not be treated as meaningfully different because of one point alone.

What the score cannot tell you

The BGQ cannot confirm prolonged grief disorder. A diagnosis requires a clinical assessment of symptoms, timing, impairment, culture, and other possible explanations.

The total cannot explain why grief remains intense. It does not assess the circumstances of the death, available support, trauma symptoms, depression, or physical health in enough detail.

Start with context.

A low score does not mean that a person needs no support. A high score does not determine the right treatment.

The BGQ also cannot show change unless the same version and scoring rule are used at each assessment.

Evidence and limitations

The original study found that a brief questionnaire could identify adults with clinically important grief-related problems in a post-disaster setting.

The Japanese validation supported the measure's use as a short screen in a different population. It also showed why a threshold must be tested rather than assumed when the language or setting changes.

The main strength of the BGQ is speed. Its main limitation is the same: five responses cannot describe a person's loss, functioning, or clinical history in depth.

Brevity helps. It also limits detail.

Record the version, language, timing since the death, scoring rule, and purpose with every result.