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Stages of Grief Portrayed on the Internet: A Systematic Analysis and Critical Appraisal

Kübler-Ross’s stage model of grief, while still extremely popular and frequently accepted, has also elicited significant criticisms against its adoption as a guideline for grieving. Inaccurate portrayal of the model may lead to bereaved individuals feeling that they are grieving incorrectly. This ma...

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Autores principales: Avis, Kate Anne, Stroebe, Margaret, Schut, Henk
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8675126/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34925174
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.772696
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author Avis, Kate Anne
Stroebe, Margaret
Schut, Henk
author_facet Avis, Kate Anne
Stroebe, Margaret
Schut, Henk
author_sort Avis, Kate Anne
collection PubMed
description Kübler-Ross’s stage model of grief, while still extremely popular and frequently accepted, has also elicited significant criticisms against its adoption as a guideline for grieving. Inaccurate portrayal of the model may lead to bereaved individuals feeling that they are grieving incorrectly. This may also result in ineffectual support from loved ones and healthcare professionals. These harmful consequences make the presentation of the five stages model an important area of concern. The Internet provides ample resources for accessing information about grief, raising questions about portrayal of the stages model on digital resources. We therefore conducted a systematic narrative review using Google to examine how Kübler-Ross’s five stages model is presented on the internet. We specifically examined the prominence of the model, whether warnings, limitations and criticisms are provided, and how positively the model is endorsed. A total of 72 websites were eligible for inclusion in the sample. Our analyses showed that 44 of these (61.1%) addressed the model, indicating its continued popularity. Evaluation scores were calculated to provide quantitative assessments of the extent to which the websites criticized and/or endorsed the model. Results indicated low criticalness of the model, with sites often neglecting evaluative commentary and including definitive statements of endorsement. We conclude that such presentation is misleading; a definitive and uncritical portrayal of the model may give the impression that experiencing the stages is the only way to grieve. This may have harmful consequences for bereaved persons. It may alienate those who do not relate to the model. Presentation of the model should be limited to acknowledging its historical significance, should include critical appraisal, and present contemporary alternative models which better-represent processes of grief and grieving.
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spelling pubmed-86751262021-12-17 Stages of Grief Portrayed on the Internet: A Systematic Analysis and Critical Appraisal Avis, Kate Anne Stroebe, Margaret Schut, Henk Front Psychol Psychology Kübler-Ross’s stage model of grief, while still extremely popular and frequently accepted, has also elicited significant criticisms against its adoption as a guideline for grieving. Inaccurate portrayal of the model may lead to bereaved individuals feeling that they are grieving incorrectly. This may also result in ineffectual support from loved ones and healthcare professionals. These harmful consequences make the presentation of the five stages model an important area of concern. The Internet provides ample resources for accessing information about grief, raising questions about portrayal of the stages model on digital resources. We therefore conducted a systematic narrative review using Google to examine how Kübler-Ross’s five stages model is presented on the internet. We specifically examined the prominence of the model, whether warnings, limitations and criticisms are provided, and how positively the model is endorsed. A total of 72 websites were eligible for inclusion in the sample. Our analyses showed that 44 of these (61.1%) addressed the model, indicating its continued popularity. Evaluation scores were calculated to provide quantitative assessments of the extent to which the websites criticized and/or endorsed the model. Results indicated low criticalness of the model, with sites often neglecting evaluative commentary and including definitive statements of endorsement. We conclude that such presentation is misleading; a definitive and uncritical portrayal of the model may give the impression that experiencing the stages is the only way to grieve. This may have harmful consequences for bereaved persons. It may alienate those who do not relate to the model. Presentation of the model should be limited to acknowledging its historical significance, should include critical appraisal, and present contemporary alternative models which better-represent processes of grief and grieving. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-12-02 /pmc/articles/PMC8675126/ /pubmed/34925174 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.772696 Text en Copyright © 2021 Avis, Stroebe and Schut. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Avis, Kate Anne
Stroebe, Margaret
Schut, Henk
Stages of Grief Portrayed on the Internet: A Systematic Analysis and Critical Appraisal
title Stages of Grief Portrayed on the Internet: A Systematic Analysis and Critical Appraisal
title_full Stages of Grief Portrayed on the Internet: A Systematic Analysis and Critical Appraisal
title_fullStr Stages of Grief Portrayed on the Internet: A Systematic Analysis and Critical Appraisal
title_full_unstemmed Stages of Grief Portrayed on the Internet: A Systematic Analysis and Critical Appraisal
title_short Stages of Grief Portrayed on the Internet: A Systematic Analysis and Critical Appraisal
title_sort stages of grief portrayed on the internet: a systematic analysis and critical appraisal
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8675126/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34925174
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.772696
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