Coping With Loss: Mapping Digital Rituals for the Expression of Grief

ABSTRACT

Although death has been frequently discussed in health communication, there has been a lack of research on coping with loss. Nevertheless, there are many websites and social network sites that offer suggestions to people as to how to cope with loss, including sites for support, sharing of experiences, and expressing grief. This article provides a theoretical understanding of grief by considering it as an emotional experience in terms of how it is expressed, its consequences, and the confrontation between the offline and online grief experience.