Omega (Westport)
November 2018
Research indicates that people maintain a connection with deceased loved ones, which can be healthy for the bereaved individuals. To maintain these bonds, people readily admit to communicating with the deceased. Although communication with the deceased shares similarities with traditional models of interpersonal communication, it is distinctly different.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCommunication willingness has previously been identified as an important communication factor in influencing individuals' decisions to become an organ donor. Missing from this conversation is the role of communication apprehension about death and its impact on donation decisions. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between communication apprehension about death, religiosity, religious affiliation, and donation decisions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFacebook memorial groups are often formed as a way for people to remember a deceased loved one. Because of the public nature of communication on Facebook, people who did not intimately know the deceased (emotional rubberneckers) can locate memorial groups and watch as people grieve the loss of their friend or family member. Using grounded theory methods, the author identified and examined the function of the rubberneckers' messages posted on 10 Facebook memorial group walls.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFollowing the death of a child, parents are turning to alternative means of communication to express their grief In this instrumental case study, the authors explore how 1 woman, Amy Ambrusko, communicates her grief experience on her blog, emotionally negotiating loss and parental grief. Guided by M. S.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMore people are turning to the Internet to communicate about dying, death, and grief experiences. This theoretical article explores the ethical dilemmas, challenges, and opportunities presented to researchers interested in exploring how death and grief are communicated online. Weaving together the literatures of computer-mediated communication and thanatology (dying and death), we discuss the ways in which many common ethical dilemmas uniquely manifest related to death and grief.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFScholars have noted that communication helps maintain relational continuity despite physical absence; yet, the specific role of communication in continuing a relationship with the deceased has not been analyzed. In this study, messages directed to the deceased on Facebook memorial group walls were examined to explore how grieving individuals utilize Facebook memorial groups in order to make sense of the death of a loved one and reconnect with the deceased. Using a grounded theory approach, message topics and apparent grief-related functions served by messages were identified and characterized.
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