Postbereavement Depressive Mood and Its Prebereavement Predictors in HIV+ and HIV− Gay Men

Prebereavement predictors of the course of postbereavement depressive mood were examined in 110 gay men who were their partner's caregiver until the partner's death of AIDS. In all, 37 HIV+ and 73 HIV− bereaved caregiving partners were assessed bimonthly throughout a 10-month period beginning 3 months before and ending 7 months after the partner's death. Throughout the 10 months, mean Centers for Epidemiology Scale-Depression (CES-D) scores on depressive mood were above the cutoff for being at risk for major depression. CES-D scores decreased for 63% of bereaved caregivers over the 7 postbereavement months, and 37% showed little change from high CES-D scores or increasing CES-D scores. High prebereavement CES-D scores and finding positive meaning in caregiving predicted diminishing depressive mood; HIV+ serostatus, longer relationships, hassles, and use of distancing and self-blame to cope predicted unrelieved depressive mood.