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Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0PLOS One

Profiles of mental health indicators among Ukrainian people recently bereaved in the context of the full-scale Russian invasion

  • Justina Pociūnaitė-Ott1,2,3
  • Paul A. Boelen4,5
  • Iryna Frankova5,6,7
  • Iryna Norkina4
  • Maria Luisa F. Rispa Hoyos1
  • Lonneke I.M. Lenferink1,8
8 affiliations
  1. 1Department of Psychology, Health & Technology, Faculty of Behavioural Management and Social Sciences, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands
  2. 2Department of Health Psychology, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas, Lithuania
  3. 3Psychology Institute, Mykolas Romeris University, Vilnius, Lithuania
  4. 4Department of Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
  5. 5ARQ National Psychotrauma Centre, Diemen, The Netherlands
  6. 6Department of Clinical, Neuro- and Developmental Psychology, WHO Collaborating Center for Research and Dissemination of Psychological Interventions, Amsterdam Public Health Institute, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
  7. 7Department of Medical Psychology, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Bogomolets National Medical University, Kyiv, Ukraine
  8. 8Department of Clinical Psychology and Experimental Psychopathology, Faculty of Behavioral and Social Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
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Abstract

Bereavement research has frequently focused on psychopathology, while comparatively less attention has been given to well-being as a component of mental health. This study is the first to examine mental health profiles based on ICD-11 Prolonged Grief (PG) symptoms, posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms, and well-being in a sample of Ukrainians bereaved during the full-scale Russian invasion. Participants were 290 adults (Mage = 34.3, SD = 9.1 years), who had lost a loved one on average 5.3 months earlier. Over a third (35%) had lost a partner or child, due to illness (43%) or war (40%). The majority of participants (55%) scored above the threshold of clinically relevant PG symptoms. Latent profile analyses identified three distinct mental health profiles: (1) low PG symptoms/low PTS symptoms/high well-being (13%), (2) moderate PG symptoms/low PTS symptoms/moderate well-being (57%), (3) high PG symptoms/low PTS symptoms/low well-being (30%). People evidencing the third profile were more likely to have experienced the loss of a close person (partner or child) and to have been forcibly displaced compared to people in other profiles. Notably, the distribution of these profiles differs from previous studies, where profiles marked by low symptoms and high well-being were typically most common. Moreover, PG and well-being appeared to lie on opposite ends of a single continuum rather than functioning as distinct dimensions, providing limited support for the dual-continua model. This pattern suggests that Ukrainians may be facing unique challenges due to ongoing war-related stressors. Identifying those most in need of support and highlighting potential intervention targets are particularly important in under-resourced populations where access to care is limited.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{pociunaitėott2026profiles,
  title = {{Profiles of mental health indicators among Ukrainian people recently bereaved in the context of the full-scale Russian invasion}},
  author = {Justina Pociūnaitė-Ott and Paul A. Boelen and Iryna Frankova and Iryna Norkina and Maria Luisa F. Rispa Hoyos and Lonneke I.M. Lenferink},
  journal = {PLOS One},
  year = {2026},
  month = nov,
  doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0358123},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0358123},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Profiles of mental health indicators among Ukrainian people recently bereaved in the context of the full-scale Russian invasion
AU  - Justina Pociūnaitė-Ott
AU  - Paul A. Boelen
AU  - Iryna Frankova
AU  - Iryna Norkina
AU  - Maria Luisa F. Rispa Hoyos
AU  - Lonneke I.M. Lenferink
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/11/03
JO  - PLOS One
DO  - 10.1371/journal.pone.0358123
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0358123
AB  - Bereavement research has frequently focused on psychopathology, while comparatively less attention has been given to well-being as a component of mental health. This study is the first to examine mental health profiles based on ICD-11 Prolonged Grief (PG) symptoms, posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms, and well-being in a sample of Ukrainians bereaved during the full-scale Russian invasion. Participants were 290 adults (Mage = 34.3, SD = 9.1 years), who had lost a loved one on average 5.3 months earlier. Over a third (35%) had lost a partner or child, due to illness (43%) or war (40%). The majority of participants (55%) scored above the threshold of clinically relevant PG symptoms. Latent profile analyses identified three distinct mental health profiles: (1) low PG symptoms/low PTS symptoms/high well-being (13%), (2) moderate PG symptoms/low PTS symptoms/moderate well-being (57%), (3) high PG symptoms/low PTS symptoms/low well-being (30%). People evidencing the third profile were more likely to have experienced the loss of a close person (partner or child) and to have been forcibly displaced compared to people in other profiles. Notably, the distribution of these profiles differs from previous studies, where profiles marked by low symptoms and high well-being were typically most common. Moreover, PG and well-being appeared to lie on opposite ends of a single continuum rather than functioning as distinct dimensions, providing limited support for the dual-continua model. This pattern suggests that Ukrainians may be facing unique challenges due to ongoing war-related stressors. Identifying those most in need of support and highlighting potential intervention targets are particularly important in under-resourced populations where access to care is limited.
SN  - 1932-6203
ER  -