"Am I normal? Is this normal?": supporting a community approach to grief
"Am I normal? Is this normal?": supporting a community approach to grief
The grief literacy movement promotes normalising and regaining conversations about death, dying and grief within communities and networks. Enhancing grief literacy enables the public to identify grief, seek relevant information and adopt appropriate support. Historically families have been the primary provider of such support, but recently in the Global North these skills and knowledge have been lost. Families and communities need to be supported to regain ownership and relearn these skills. An online resource was developed and evaluated to explore its value in supporting the knowledge, skills and values required to embed grief literacy in family and friends-based networks. This paper presents findings from qualitative interviews (n=16) and group interviews (n=7). These rich datasets confirmed the resource to be an effective mechanism by increasing knowledge and skills to enhance grief literacy and supporting collective grief, where loss transcends the individual and becomes a social or cultural experience for the majority who deal with their grief with the support of family and friends rather than bereavement professionals.
Communities, bereavement, grief literacy, family and friends, online resource
Myall, Michelle
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Lund, Susi
f0cbe041-fa1e-45bc-ad2c-f4ccb9e640e5
Campling, Natasha
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Myall, Michelle
0604ba0f-75c2-4783-9afe-aa54bf81513f
Lund, Susi
f0cbe041-fa1e-45bc-ad2c-f4ccb9e640e5
Campling, Natasha
0e0410b0-a9cd-486d-a51f-20d80df04791
Myall, Michelle, Lund, Susi and Campling, Natasha
(2025)
"Am I normal? Is this normal?": supporting a community approach to grief.
Death Studies.
(doi:10.1080/07481187.2025.2598312).
Abstract
The grief literacy movement promotes normalising and regaining conversations about death, dying and grief within communities and networks. Enhancing grief literacy enables the public to identify grief, seek relevant information and adopt appropriate support. Historically families have been the primary provider of such support, but recently in the Global North these skills and knowledge have been lost. Families and communities need to be supported to regain ownership and relearn these skills. An online resource was developed and evaluated to explore its value in supporting the knowledge, skills and values required to embed grief literacy in family and friends-based networks. This paper presents findings from qualitative interviews (n=16) and group interviews (n=7). These rich datasets confirmed the resource to be an effective mechanism by increasing knowledge and skills to enhance grief literacy and supporting collective grief, where loss transcends the individual and becomes a social or cultural experience for the majority who deal with their grief with the support of family and friends rather than bereavement professionals.
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Am I normal Is this normal Supporting a community approach to grief
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Am I normal Manuscript REVISED with authors no track changes
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 20 November 2025
e-pub ahead of print date: 12 December 2025
Keywords:
Communities, bereavement, grief literacy, family and friends, online resource
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 507603
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/507603
ISSN: 0748-1187
PURE UUID: c52ec12c-f946-4635-afd0-840b49057d58
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Date deposited: 15 Dec 2025 17:40
Last modified: 16 Dec 2025 02:47
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