Identification and validation of grief in Facebook groups on mourning

Abstract

This research aims to analyze the interactions related to the identification and validation of grief in Facebook groups whose purpose is to give support to those who are grieving. A qualitative content analysis of 1,816 comments in three Facebook groups on mourning, published between February 23 and March 23, 2020, was conducted. The comments were grouped into 456 digital interactions between group members, from which the analytic categories “identification with other‘s grief” and “validation of other‘s grief“ were constructed. Among the results of the research, it was found that identification with grief among users of the social network is a recurrent type of emotional support. Identification generates the perception that one‘s own emotional experiences related to grief are shared with others. Validation of grief is another form of support, as it invites users to express their emotions and recognize the grief involved in the mourning process. These two processes, identification and, validation, are at the core of the guidance that users are offered to mitigate their grief. Online groups provide an opportunity for people going through similar experiences of grief to find shared expressions of identification with and validation of their grief, which are fundamental processes of social support.