Perinatal grief online.
OBJECTIVE
To describe and interpret the culture of an online perinatal loss group.


METHODS
This qualitative study used ethnography, the study of culture. Methods included participant-observation, review of 447 e-mails, and participants' feedback about the findings. The setting was online in a perinatal loss listserv consisting of mothers and one grandmother who had experienced a perinatal loss through miscarriage, stillbirth, or neonatal death. In this changing group, there were between 82 to 87 participants from North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia.


RESULTS
The essence of the culture was Shared Metamorphosis. The Internet connected grieving women who otherwise would likely not have met. Participants shared virtual identities, created a community, and brought meaning to their perpetual losses. Their grief was a process of remembrance and memories, and they used symbols to represent the deceased babies; angels were a commonly discussed symbol. For bereaved mothers "life would never be the same," but joining the community of the perinatal loss listserv meant they would never be alone.


CONCLUSIONS
The culture of online support can link individuals who are geographically distant but share common issues, in this case a perinatal loss. Professionals can use this study to better understand what women experience after a perinatal loss, and what their role can be in validating and supporting these new "mothers of angels."
Nursing Research, The Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, NY, USA. DrKatieRN@hotmail.com
Kathleen Leask
KL
Capitulo
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D001208:Asia; D001293:Attitude to Death; D001315:Australia; D002648:Child; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D006117:Grief; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology; D009656:North America; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D012649:Self Concept; D012657:Self-Help Groups; D012944:Social Support