Thematic blogs on the loss of a child — a strategy to deal with maternal grief

By Heloísa Cristina Figueiredo Frizzo, PhD – Associate Professor at the Occupational Therapy Department / Institute of Health Sciences; Researcher and Leader of the Research Group: NIPTecC – Interdisciplinary Center in Daily Technologies, Federal University of Triangulo Mineiro, Uberaba, MG, Brazil

According to the article “Grieving mothers: design of thematic blogs about loss of a child”, which was published in Acta Paulista de Enfermagem (Vol. 30, no. 2), the researchers discovered motivations that lead mothers who list their children to creating thematic blogs. These motivations include sharing the experience of loss, the challenge of moving forward, and the need for a relationship network to support and comfort other bereaved mothers; as well as ensuring a refuge space for free expression of feelings, emotions, and overcoming the loss; honoring and perpetuating the memory and image of the deceased child, besides being a form of social activism.

The scientific evidence was uncovered from the narrative analysis of data recorded on 40 blogs created by mothers who lost their children, using the Dual Process of Understanding of Grief as a theoretical basis (STROEBE, SCHUT, 2010). As virtual space is an indisputable reality in contemporary Western society (BOUSSO, 2014), the discovery of the implications of the use of the internet by mothers who have lost their children contributes to the implementation of strategies of care for death and dying and for the qualification of Nursing professionals and multiprofessional team that are faced with the complexity of maternal mourning in their praxis.

Considering the results presented, it is understood that the creation and existence of a blog about the loss of a child tends to allow the experience of mourning, also allowing the mother a continuous search for the internalization of the lost relationship and reconstruction of life and social relations despite the loss.

The findings help us understand that virtual spaces gather people with common interests and, thus, these spaces allow useful affective bonds to be developed in the grief process. Consequently, these findings help provide a social support in health care, especially in the Palliative Care and Thanatology areas.

The results discovered by the group of researchers potentiate the care for people in the situation of mourning. In addition, they facilitate instrumentalizing the society to support the bereaved mothers, thus contributing to demystify the topic and develop novel studies. Moreover, they help us understanding the use of the new communication and information technologies as a strategy to cope with bereavement.

References

BOUSSO, R. S., et al. Facebook: A new locus for the manifestation of a significant loss. Psicol. USP [online].  2014, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 172-179 [viewed 31  July  2017]. DOI: 10.1590/0103-656420130022.  Available from: http://ref.scielo.org/2h2jxz

FRIZZO, H. C. F., et al. Mães enlutadas: criação de blogs temáticos sobre a perda de um filho. Acta paul. enferm. [online]. 2017, vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 116-121 [viewed 14 July 2017]. DOI: 10.1590/1982-0194201700019. Available from: http://ref.scielo.org/pgyj6w

STROEBE, M. and SCHUT, H. The dual process model of coping with bereavement: a decade on. Omega. 2010, vol. 61, no. 4, pp. 273-289.

External link

Acta Paulista de Enfermagem – APE: <http://www.scielo.br/ape>