Grieving with Lost Ones

During the examination of support groups for grief, we learned of how people responded to tragedies. Google has set up a network for people grieving the loss of a loved one so that they can share the coping and express their feelings with people in the same position.

We examined 20 messages in total, deciding whether or not each message contained the following kinds of support: Information, Tangible assistance, Esteem support, Network support, Emotional support, and Humor. Each message was examined and evaluated by myself and Brendon. With this information, we were able to summarize our findings into the following data:


% inter-rater reliability 97.5

Frequency % of messages
Information 17 85
Tangible assistance 3 15
Esteem support 16 80
Network support 18 90
Emotional support 20 100
Humor 0 0

After finishing the examination of the support group, we found the inter-rate reliability to be remarkably higher than necessary in order to be reliable. Our results showed 97.5% of our responses were the same, while only 70% are necessary for a reliable study. After comparing our results with Braithwaite et al., the categories of information, and humor were exactly the same. We had slight difference of opinions regarding the esteem, network and emotional support. After reading the original post of where a son lost his mother, people began to validate his sorrows with similar situations and begin an outpour of grief. The subsequent posters replies were of the nature that they have gotten to know each other better because of previous postings. I believed that this reaction had to do with network support, rather than the opinion of Brendon which was esteem support.
Sympathetic signals were evident in every post that we examined. Most of the messages that people posted were offering their condolences and also explaining their own situations and how they have had to cope with their loss. This demonstrated strangers offering emotional support to one another in order to help deal with the tragedies they have encountered.
Since many of the posters have been through similar situations in their lives, they offer sympathy and support for each other. It is unclear whether or not their support goes beyond the message board but it seems evident that it helps these victims in dealing with their tragedies. The results of coding these messages reveal that they are interpreted similarly amongst viewers such as me and Brendon.

Note: Also posted by Brendon Nash (Purple)



Messages 1-4: http://groups.google.com/group/alt.support.grief/browse_thread/thread/d7e2643e134fdcd1/80bdf281940aa060#80bdf281940aa060
Messages 5-15: http://groups.google.com/group/alt.support.grief/browse_thread/thread/9a538c2985bc13f8/b177ce017f6127c2?lnk=raot#b177ce017f6127c2
Messages 16-20: http://groups.google.com/group/alt.support.grief/browse_thread/thread/37ea8da439b7a96b/ffc842cbdbe9947f?lnk=raot#ffc842cbdbe9947f