How do People Use Social Media to Maintain Continuing Bonds in Bereavement? A Qualitative Meta-Synthesis

Staying connected with a person who has died is a common phenomenon in bereavement, generally referred to as continuing bonds (CB). This can take multitudinous forms, a novelty being the utilisation of social media to strengthen the connection. This qualitative meta-synthesis collated research on digital CB to identify themes to help us develop an overarching understanding of how digital platforms are used to express CB and what impact this may have. A systematic search of four relevant databases (PubMed, PsycInfo, CINAHL and Web of Science) was conducted. Papers were exported to EndNote for screening; ultimately, seven papers were selected for thematic analysis. Five main themes were identified: Broadcast grief, Immortalized in tech, Reachable entity, Collective grief and Revolutionised grief. The included papers clarified reasons for the growing interest in sharing grief digitally, such as affirming relationships and the co-constructed maintenance of identity. These findings can inform modernisation of grief interventions.