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OMEGA—Journal of Death and Dying

2022, Vol. 0(0) 1–12
Death and Dying in a © The Author(s) 2022
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DOI: 10.1177/00302228221130617
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Zahra Asgari1, Azam Naghavi1 , and Mohammad Reza Abedi1

Abstract
The impact of digitalization on the topic of death and dying seems to be accelerated in
recent years. This study aimed to explore the online ways people used to overcome
grief and used the COVID-19 restrictions as an example. Thirty-two bereaved par-
ticipants were interviewed and the data were analyzed using the constructive grounded
theory method. Three main themes were extracted from the data: 1) an online way to
remember; 2) digitalization of social support, and 3) continuing the bonds. Findings
highlighted the important and inevitable role of the digital world in the grief process
when there is a restriction in holding usual ceremonies.

Keywords
death and dying, digital mourning, digitalization, crisis, grief, bereavement

Death and Dying in a Digitalized World

Digitalization, with its all benefits and pitfalls, has affected all aspects of life and death.
The involvement of digital social media in death-related topics was predicted by some
researchers such as Walter et al. (2012) at least a decade ago. Recent death and dying
studies have acknowledged such prediction and showed that the experiences of loss,
grief, and bereavement have been particularly affected by cyberspace and have created
some new discourses such as digital mourning (Bassett, 2022; Moyer & Enck, 2020), or

1
Department of Counseling, Faculty of Education and Psychology, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran

Corresponding Author:
Azam Naghavi, Department of Counseling, Faculty of Education and Psychology, University of Isfahan,
University Ave, Isfahan, Iran.
Email: [email protected]
2 OMEGA—Journal of Death and Dying 0(0)

cyberthanathology, the study of death-related topics with and within the cyberspace
(Beaunoyer & Guitton, 2021).
The topic of digitalization of death-related issues has attracted much more attention
since the 2019 pandemic when many countries placed strict restrictions on social
gatherings (Mortazavi et al., 2020; Wallace et al., 2020) such as funeral ceremonies.
In many parts of the world, the presence of people in the funeral ceremony marks the
social status of the deceased (Stroebe & Schut, 2021). Visiting bereaved persons also is
a way to show social support (Carr et al., 2020). However, the pandemic restrictions
interrupted the familiar way of practicing death rituals (Simpson et al., 2021), and bring
forth the vitality of access to the virtual space as a platform for showing emotions
related to the loss and receiving support from others.
Some researchers expected an increase in the number of patients with prolonged or
complex grief disorder as a result of the pandemic-related issues, such as not being able
to say a proper goodbye to the deceased (Cowdry & Stirling, 2020), not being able to
practice familiar death and dying rituals and ceremonies (Mortazavi et al., 2020), and
not being able to receive social support as before (Carr et al., 2020). Hence, the in-
volvement of cyberspace in the grief process can be significant in crisis times when the
usual death and dying rituals are prohibited.
Current studies showed that using cyberspace to heal from grief and express
emotions can occur through online memorial pages, sharing photos, voices, and texts
from the deceased beyond geographical boundaries (Fakhruroji, 2021; Mojarad et al.,
2021; Sofka, 2020). Virtual communication with the bereaved people can be an im-
portant way to show care, support, help, and increase a sense of perceived social
support (Hamid & Jahangir, 2020), which are vital during the process of grief (Chen,
2020). Another issue that has received more attention is how to deal with the remaining
online pages of the deceased. The privacy of the data after death, keeping the page
active or de-active, dealing with emotions when visiting the pages of a dead person,
may be important issues to focus on.
In the current study, we had a glance at the experiences of digitalization of death and
dying experiences in Iran. It seems that for some reasons, Iran and similar countries in
the Middle East could be important in this respect. Firstly, Iran is considered as a
collectivistic society and the topic of death is often dealt with in the realm of society
rather than individuals. Therefore, large funeral ceremonies, large social gatherings in
mosques or in the house of the deceased, long mourning process and marking important
days such as the third, seventh and the fortieth day of the death as well as annual
memorials are common in many parts of Iran (Izadi-Mazidi & Riahi, 2021). Secondly,
Iran is considered a Muslim majority country and in Islam, social gatherings and social
support of the deceased family are highly recommended (Mortazavi et al., 2020).
Thirdly, Iran placed strong restrictions on holding funerals and access to the cemeteries
during different stages of the pandemic. Finally, although there is a wide Internet
coverage in Iran, digital mourning has not been a common practice before the pan-
demic, and the vitality of online platforms for the bereaved people is a new topic in this
country. The alternative and creative way of using online platforms during the grief
Asgari et al. 3

process have not been studied before in this country. Considering the above four
reasons, the present study could be considered a novel one about the digitalization of
death and dying experiences in Iran, and it can be placed within the broader framework
of cyberthanathology and cyberpsychology. In this study, we aimed to answer the
following questions:

1. How do bereaved people used cyberspace during the stages of grief in Iran?
2. How do the alternative ways of digital mourning and memorials reshape the
experiences of overcoming the grief process?

Method
Participants and Recruitment
This study seeks to gain an in-depth understanding of how digital spaces in the
mourning process are experienced by people who have lost their loved ones for
different reasons during the COVID-19 pandemic as a crisis condition. We employed a
Constructivist Grounded Theory (CGT) Method (Charmaz, 2014). The CGT creates an
opportunity to analyze data inductively through collaboration between researchers and
participants (Tarozzi, 2020).
The study was conducted in Isfahan, one of the largest cities in the center of Iran,
from November 2021 to January 2022. Two sampling methods were utilized in the
study. First, we selected participants through snowball sampling (n = 15) and con-
currently analyzed the data. Then, based on the findings, we used theoretical sampling
and continued it until the data saturation point (n = 17). In total, we interviewed 32
individuals who had lost at least one loved one during the pandemic restrictions
(Table 1).

Data Collection
Data were collected through in-depth interviews. Considering the health protocols
during the pandemic, all interviews were conducted through video calls, using
WhatsApp or Skype programs. The interviews lasted 50–70 minutes, were directed by
the interview guide, and were recorded with the informed consent of the participants.
The interview guide was created by all authors based on the literature and also the
authors’ experiences. First, we explained the aim of the research and clarified the
participants’ questions. The interview guide began with open-ended questions such as
“Please tell us what happened to the deceased” and “What happened to you after that”,
to allow the interviewees to express their personal narratives. Then we asked other
trigger questions such as “What was the use of digital tools for you at the times of the
restrictions of the mourning ceremony? were you comfortable using them?, Did you
have any previous experience? and How was the effect of these tools in your mourning
process during COVID-19 conditions?”. Also, probe questions were used during the
4 OMEGA—Journal of Death and Dying 0(0)

Table 1. Socio-Demographic Characteristics of the Sample.

Marital
Code Age Gender Deceased Cause of Death Status Education Place

P1 32 M Brother & uncle COVID-19 Married PhD Urban

P2 35 M Uncle & cousin COVID-19 Single PhD Rural
P3 39 M Brother & uncle COVID-19 Married MA Urban
4 30 M Uncle Heart attack Single MA Urban
5 36 M Father Heart attack Married BA Urban
6 40 M Sister Suicide Married BA Urban
7 29 M Brother Accident Single MA Rural
8 38 M Mother COVID-19 Married MA Urban
9 31 M Mother & father COVID-19 Married BA Rural
10 40 M Son Accident Married Diploma Urban
11 29 M Close friend Suicide Single BA Urban
12 29 F Uncle COVID-19 Single BA Urban
13 31 F Close friend Accident Married MA Rural
14 33 F Uncle Stroke Married PhD
15 31 F Brother Accident Single Diploma Rural
P16 42 F Husband COVID-19 Widow BA Urban
P17 40 F Sister COVID-19 Single BA Rural
P18 29 F Father COVID-19 Single BA Urban
P19 36 F Father COVID-19 Married MA Urban
P20 33 F Husband Accident Widow BA Urban
P21 35 F Mother & brother Accident Married BA Urban
P22 33 F Husband COVID-19 Widow MA Urban
P23 29 F Mother & sister COVID-19/Suicide Married BA Rural
P24 38 F Father COVID-19 Married MA Urban
P25 39 F Son Accident Married PhD Urban
P26 22 F Mother COVID-19 Single BA Urban
P27 32 F Grandfather & Heart attack/ Single PhD Rural
aunt COVID-19
P28 29 F Father Heart attack Married BA Urban
P29 40 F Daughter COVID-19 Married Diploma Urban
P30 29 F Brother Accident Single BA Urban
P31 30 F Sister Accident Single MA Urban
P32 32 F Father Heart attack Married MA Rural

interviews for more clarification. It is worth mentioning that this study is part of a larger
study about healing from grief during crisis times such as the pandemic. As the ex-
periences of the digital-related area were mentioned by the participants as one of the
most important methods of healing from grief, this paper emphasized the findings
related to the digitalization of death and dying experiences.
Asgari et al. 5

Data Analysis
The initial, focused, and theoretical coding according to the CGT approach (Charmaz,
2014) was undertaken concurrently with data collection. The last version of MAXQDA
software was utilized to manage data analysis. Initial coding started first by listening to
the audio files and transcribing the interviews verbatim. Then, open coding started line
by line to find meaningful units. In focused coding, recurrent patterns of meaning were
identified, and all codes were categorized into similar sub-themes. Finally, the relations
between the categories were sought. The first author interviewed the participants and
transcribed the files, and all authors were involved in the coding and writing of the
report.

Methodological rigor
Credibility, originality, usefulness, and resonance (Charmaz, 2006) were used for
ensuring the quality and trustworthiness of data. After reading each transcripts, if there
were some areas that needed clarification, we would ask participants for more com-
ments and this was done through online platforms such as WhatsApp. The idea of
digitalization in the death-related area is a new multidisciplinary research area. This
could show the originality and usefulness of our work, especially in the post-pandemic
world. Resonance refers to making sense of data and leading to the construction of
understandable meaning. In this regard, we shared our initial findings through text chat
or phone calls with some participants and asked them to comment on the meaning-
fulness of our analysis. Some participants made comments that helped us in other
interviews or in our analysis.
Ethics approval was granted by the University of Isfahan Ethics Committee granted
ethical approval (IR.UI.REC.1400.114). None withdrew and some expressed appre-
ciation about having an opportunity to talk about their thoughts and feelings. We used
pseudonyms to keep the real identities of the participants. Due to the emotional topic,
the interviewer finished each interview by making sure the participant’s emotional state
was stable and followed up with them through text chat or calls. All participants were
offered free counseling sessions if needed.

Results
Findings showed the pandemic as a crisis situation suddenly transformed the way of
mourning from a very social event to a mixed social-individual phenomenon that was
new and unknown to the participants. The participants were forced to reconstruct their
understanding of death and dying rituals and to find and create new ways of holding
ceremonies and remembering their loved ones. Three main themes were extracted from
the data concerning the digitalization of death and dying experiences including 1) an
online way to remember; 2) digitalization of social support, and 3) continuing the
bonds.
6 OMEGA—Journal of Death and Dying 0(0)

Theme One: An online Way to Remember

The participants referred to different online platforms used by them or their relatives and
friends after losing their loved ones. Such platforms were mainly accessed through their
smartphones or personal laptop. The most common platforms were WhatsApp, Tele-
gram, and Instagram. There were some websites created for reciting the Qur’an and
praying for the deceased and participants were able to create a link to remember the
deceased and then share the link through the above-mentioned applications. Other people
could enter the link and by clicking on the link of the Qur’an or praying, the deceased’s
family could see how many people recited the Qur’an or prayed for their loved ones. Two
important websites in this regard were: (https://yadban.com/), and (https://fatehe-online.
ir/login). Apart from reciting the Qur’an, the participants used the applications to
broadcast online funerals, hold online ceremonies, or stay connected with others when
they could not meet other people in person because of the health protocols.
Some comments of the participants can show how they used cyberspace to re-
member their loved ones. For example,

P26 said, “Due to the health protocols, only my father and I attended my mother’s funeral.
We broadcasted her funeral live from my Instagram page to other acquaintances and
relatives.” Similarly, P1 stated, “The virtual ceremony is a solution in the Corona era. It is
possible to attend a virtual ceremony with a smartphone or personal computer. We use the
Yadban website which is common for online funerals [in Iran]. The address of the virtual
ceremony was sent to the guests via SMS.” P21 stated, “With the help of the Fatehe-online
website, we created a link that was distributed in WhatsApp and Telegram groups, and
many people were able to recite the Qur’an for them so that the deceases would be at
peace.”

Several benefits were mentioned by the participants of using cyberspace during their
grief process. The ease of access and low cost were two recurrent benefits stated by the
participants. Holding an online memorial was not costly compared to usual ceremonies
that often involve receptions. Furthermore, it did not need much preparation compared
to in-person ceremonies. Finally, people from anywhere in the world could participate
in it.

P27 said, “I held a ceremony for my grandfather and my aunt on my Instagram page. For
this reason, holding the ceremony was not expensive. We even could play a recorded video
of my grandfather in the ceremony. No preparations were required for the ceremony we
just shared the poster of the program on different online pages. It was easy for everyone to
attend and it was better than nothing [no ceremonies]. We felt relieved.”

Some participants praised the digital world for the opportunity it created to gather
people together and recite the Qur’an and pray for the peace of the survivors, and also
to ask for peace for the soul of the deceased. For example,
Asgari et al. 7

P29 said, “My sister was so young. I had to do something to calm her soul. So, I set up a
Telegram channel to pray for my sister and started the Qur’an recitation to commemorate
her soul on the first night of her burial.”

It is worth mentioning that in Islam, especially in the Shia sect which is the religion
of the majority of Iranians, the first night in the grave is considered to be the most
difficult night for the deceased and the afterlife questioning starts from that point.
Praying and reciting the Qur’an are believed to make this passage easy for the de-
ceased. It is also believed that the survivors can affect the situation of the deceased
afterlife by doing good deeds such as donating in the name of the deceased. The good
deeds can be social such as making donations to charities or individuals such as reciting
the Qur’an. It is interesting to note that both the social and individual practices shifted
to online activities during the pandemic.

Theme Two: Digitalization of Social Support

Participants also stated that they could benefit from cyberspace to connect with others
when they had to practice self-isolation because of COVID-19. As mourning is a social
event in Iran and probably in some other parts of the world, without having an access to
the Internet or digital devices such as smartphones, they could feel lonely. However,
they had the opportunity to share their emotions with their friends and relatives, and to
make their personal emotional experience public. On the other hand, friends and
relatives also had an opportunity to express their feelings and show their support, and
say condolences on an online platform. Visitors of a page such as Instagram could also
interact with each other through comments and sharing the memories of the deceased,
so not only could they console the survivors, but also they could soothe each other.
Online empathy through sending messages, and sharing photos, videos, voices, or
stories of the deceased seems to be a new way of caring for and supporting survivors in
critical times. Such behaviors can show online informal social support for bereaved
people during the pandemic restrictions.

In this vein, P19 explained, “I received many messages and stickers from my colleagues as
condolences. A number of my close friends chatted with me for hours. Some people sent
me songs that were in tune with my feelings, and they were with me [online] throughout
my mourning.” P18 stated, “Some of my relatives talked with me and my mom via the
phone, and we cried a lot with them.” P23 said, “Some of my close friends contacted me
through the video call and we talked about my feelings and the pain in my heart in the
absence of my dear mother and my sister. So, I cried and felt relieved.”

Receiving online counseling was another positive point about having access to the
Internet l as an online formal social support. Some participants used tele-mental health
services when the counseling clinics were locked down due to the pandemic.
8 OMEGA—Journal of Death and Dying 0(0)

P25 said, “The loss of my son was very sudden and I was deeply saddened. I needed to talk to
an expert, but I could not leave the house because of the [COVID-19] virus. Following my
friend’s suggestion, I used an online counseling service. I wanted someone to listen to me,
understand my grief and tell me what to do.” P17 used an online counseling group and said,
“I attend online group counseling sessions. People had similar experiences in the group and I
easily express my feelings and memories of my daughter during the grief stages.”

Theme Three: Continuing the Bonds

One of the interesting findings of this research was the life-death interaction in a
digitalized world. Life does not seem to be completely ended by death because there are
digitalized reminders of the deceased such as videos, voices, texts, and comments, both
as personal memories for the survivors and as public memories on online pages. Online
platforms play an important role both to store the memories of the deceased and to keep
his/her memories alive. It, thus, seems that in a digitalized world, we may die but live
forever in another sense.

P20 said in this regard, “I try to post happy memories of my husband on Instagram,
remembering all the good times and his activities. I post photos of my husband with
narration about the photos’ stories.”
P2 used an online application as a platform to keep the memory of loved ones alive. “We
created a group on WhatsApp and sent the link to all acquaintances. In that group, their
videos and photos were shared. It was possible for them to send a message to us.”
P3 who had lost her brother and uncle said, “The loss of my brother and my uncle was like
a nightmare. I thank God that I can be present in the online pages left by them, hear their
voices, and see their pictures again. They are alive to me when I go to their page, especially
my brother. I could watch the videos over and over again. I go there [to the online pages] so
that I feel that I am with him, I still leave comments for him, and send him messages and
notes.”

P22 similarly visited her husband’s Instagram page and said, “His death touched many
hearts. I see many people still like his posts and leave comments while he is not here
anymore. On his page, I share memories of him, comment, and tell to his followers how
much these memories mean to me. In fact, it is as if my husband is alive and comforts me.”
P28 said, “I lost him but it seems as if I regained him. His days and nights are in front of my
eyes. He is alive in the last voice message he sent me. In the last movie of his birthday, and
in the messages he sent me.”

Discussion
This study aimed to answer two questions: How do bereaved people use cyberspace
during the stages of grief in Iran, and how do the alternative ways of digital mourning
Asgari et al. 9

and memorials reshape the experiences of overcoming the grief process? Three main
themes were extracted from the data.
Many participants in this study highlighted their experiences with the benefits of
using digital means during their mourning. In line with some recent studies (Babis,
2021; Enari & Rangiwai, 2021), our findings showed that when the time-space or
situation does not allow the survivors to practice familiar mourning rituals, the digital
resource can be a savior. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the traditional
collective mourning process, but in our participants’ point of view, digital space has
allowed them to remain connected to others. They observed that Instagram, WhatsApp,
and Telegram were the main three common applications used to announce the death,
broadcast live burials and funerals, hold memorials, and create mourning groups.
Similarly, Fakhruroji (2021) found that WhatsApp could play a role in expressing
condolences, and it also transforms the way of supporting the bereaved family.
Two newly established Iranian websites were mentioned by the participants for
holding funeral ceremonies and reciting the Qur’an during the pandemic. Other world’s
popular platforms such as Facebook or Twitter were not mentioned by the participants.
A possible reason could be related to the fact that these two websites are among the list
of websites that are banned in Iran. The availability of digital mourning for some
participants in rural areas could also highlight the availability of wide access to the
Internet in Iran, although this issue still needs improvement.
Although the participants could not process the loss and grief in a normal and
familiar way, the opportunity of having access to the digitalized world assisted them to
receive online care, support, and help during their mourning as well as creating a space
to talk about the grief. This made cyberspace as the first place to process the grief, not as
an alternative or secondhand resource. According to the participants’ views, online
opportunities to remember the deceased could be beneficial for the survivors. Con-
sequently, the survivors could feel a perceived sense of social support. In line with our
findings, Perluxo and Francisco (2018) also mentioned that cyberspace can facilitate
the initial phase of grieving by receiving more support, identifying other bereaved with
the same experience, honoring the deceased, and expressing feelings. She et al. (2021)
also mentioned that people share stories about the deceased in online forms to receive
social support.
The questions about data privacy after death, and what to do with the remaining
accounts of a deceased person, have not been fully answered yet. According to our
findings, it seems that at least in the first years after death, these online accounts can
play an important role in the survivors’ grief process. Participants believed that cy-
berspace seems to be bridging the gap between life and death. They mentioned the
digital space has the ability to facilitate the mourning process and create the feeling that
the dead seemed to be presented in the world, and that he/she seems to be alive forever.
Özdemir et al. (2021) also claimed that the footprints of the dead people will remain
through their past tweets, videos, and photographs. They stated that the digital selves
transformed the grieving process and made new types of relationships between the
survivors and the dead. Akinyemi and Hassett (2021) also found that online accounts of
10 OMEGA—Journal of Death and Dying 0(0)

a deceased may maintain and transform a connection with him/her, and can continue the
bonds forever.

Conclusions
Digitalization in the last decades has transformed life and death experiences around the
world. Turning to the digital world to express emotions, receive care, support, and help
from others, remember the deceased, and reshape the life-death interactions, still need
further multidisciplinary studies. As the world may experience other pandemics in the
future or other similar situations, paying more attention to cyberpsychology and cy-
berthanathology as Beaunoyer and Guitton (2021) termed seems to be inevitable.
Based on the findings of this research, it is necessary to set up online grief line to
provide grief counseling at times of restrictions, traumatic events that holding cere-
monies is impossible, when there is no access to in-person counseling such as in remote
areas, or when people just prefer to use online counseling.

Author Contribution
All authors have contributed to writing up the article and have seen and approved the article in its
final version.

Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank the individuals who participated in this research and spoke about their
personal traumatic experiences.

Ethics Approval
Ethics approval was granted by the University of Isfahan Ethics Committee granted ethical
approval (IR.UI.REC.1400.114).

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship,
and/or publication of this article.

Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this
article.

ORCID iD
Azam Naghavi  https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0559-6192
Asgari et al. 11

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Author Biographies
Zahra Asgari has finished her PhD in Counseling in the Department of Counseling,
faculty of Education and Psychology, University of Isfahan, Iran. She has worked on
the area of traumatic loss during the last 5 years.
Azam Naghavi is an Associate Professor in the Department of Counseling, Faculty of
Education and Psychology, University of Isfahan. She has worked on the area of crisis
and trauma since 2010.
Mohammad Reza Abedi is a Professor in the Department of Counseling, Faculty of
Education and Psychology, University of Isfahan. He has worked and researched as a
career counselor in the area of mental health since 1991.