Sorgens uttryck -en socialpsykologisk studie om sorg i bloggar

Title: Expressions of grief - a social psychological study Authors: Christel Hagdahl, Linn Bengtsson Supervisor: Anders Östnäs The purpose of this study was to describe and analyze human grief via social media from a social psychological perspective. We found it interesting to study blogs to illustrate the diversity in expressions of grief and to analyze which social norms that influence the process of grief. As social workers we will meet people in grief, to approach these people best way possible, it’s important to have this knowledge. We chose to do a qualitative content analysis of Swedish blogs written by bereaved adults. We divided the blogs into three categories; accident, disease and suicide. The result showed that there where no greater differences in people’s expression of grief. There are assumptions in the society of how the process of grief should develop, and this is something our bloggers are well aware of. Furthermore, we found that the social environment address the mourner differently, depending on cause of death. Although, research shows that we generally lack good communication patterns that can help us talk about grief and mourning. The use of internet as a way of expressing grief has become more common. The study also showed a tendency of decreasing acceptance of alternative way of grieving