Human-Computer Interaction in Times of Grief: Unveiling Support Processes Among COVID-19 Bereaved Users in a Facebook Group Through Netnography

Abstract

During the early waves of the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy, social distancing hindered mourners in their help-seeking. A netnographic approach was employed to investigate grief and empathy expressions on a Facebook support group, created for the purpose and moderated by a psychologist. Participants (23 Females, 2 Males) knew about the research and co-participated in the improvement of the group experience. The virtual space was used by group members with two different purposes: some mainly vented their anger but others created a new and coherent narration of their loss. Differently from other peer-to-peer support groups, users supported each other continuously and in some cases took up the role of moderators. The results shed light on continuous peer support and user-driven moderation dynamics, advancing our understanding of online groups moderated by professionals. The study also prompts reflection on distinct aspects of grieving on social media during the initial 2 years of the pandemic.

Keywords:

• COVID-19 bereavement
• online communities
• Facebook-based support group grief
• social network sites
• qualitative studies

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Correction

Correction Statement

This article was originally published with errors, which have now been corrected in the online version. Please see Correction (http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10447318.2024.2308331)

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the participants who generously provided their time and insights into this important research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The research was supported by a grant from MIUR (Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della Ricerca) Dipartimenti di Eccellenza (DM 11/05/2017 n.262), Dipartimento di Psicologia Generale, Università di Padova.

Notes on contributors

Lorenza Entilli

Lorenza Entilli is at the University of Padua, Italy, teaches health psychology and collaborates as a post-doc with the University of Rome. As a trainee psychotherapist specializing in suicide prevention, she has worked with the Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention contributing to various publications, including Routledge.

Kairi Kõlves

Kairi Kõlves is at the Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention and the Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Research and Training in Suicide Prevention, School of Applied Psychology at Griffith University. She has been focussing on suicide research and prevention since 1998.

Diego De Leo

Diego De Leo, of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Research and Training in Suicide Prevention. Past President of the International Association for Suicide Prevention, he is currently President of the Italian Psychogeriatric Association and directs the Slovene Centre for Suicide Research at the University of Primorska, Slovenia.

Sabrina Cipolletta

Sabrina Cipolletta, at the University of Padua, Italy, and a psychotherapist, directs PsyMed, a health psychology research laboratory. As a member of the Executive Committee of the European Health Psychology Society (EHPS), her research explores health psychology, emphasizing illness experience, care relationships, end-of-life, and eHealth.