TY - JOUR
T1 - Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Funerals
T2 - Experiences of Participants in the 2020 Dying2Learn Massive Open Online Course
AU - Rawlings, Deb
AU - Miller-Lewis, Lauren
AU - Tieman, Jennifer
PY - 2024/6
Y1 - 2024/6
N2 - A Massive-Open-Online-Course (MOOC) on death and dying (Dying2Learn) was offered in 2020, designed to build conversations about death as a natural part of life. In week 1, the content focused on how today’s society engages with death through the language we use, humour, public mourning and funerals. This study investigated 2020 MOOC participants’ responses to an online activity reflecting on funerals and memorials during the time of COVID-19. From this activity, n = 204 responses were analysed qualitatively. Themes included the positives and negatives of virtual funeral attendance (e.g. opportunity to have a way to participate when travel barriers existed, versus a sense of impersonal voyeurism); and the challenges related to the inability to physically comfort the bereaved due to physical distancing requirements. Comments made as part of this MOOC activity provide a unique insight into the community’s experience of funeral changes necessitated by COVID-19, with important implications for the grieving process.
AB - A Massive-Open-Online-Course (MOOC) on death and dying (Dying2Learn) was offered in 2020, designed to build conversations about death as a natural part of life. In week 1, the content focused on how today’s society engages with death through the language we use, humour, public mourning and funerals. This study investigated 2020 MOOC participants’ responses to an online activity reflecting on funerals and memorials during the time of COVID-19. From this activity, n = 204 responses were analysed qualitatively. Themes included the positives and negatives of virtual funeral attendance (e.g. opportunity to have a way to participate when travel barriers existed, versus a sense of impersonal voyeurism); and the challenges related to the inability to physically comfort the bereaved due to physical distancing requirements. Comments made as part of this MOOC activity provide a unique insight into the community’s experience of funeral changes necessitated by COVID-19, with important implications for the grieving process.
KW - COVID-19
KW - death
KW - dying
KW - funerals
KW - massive open online course
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85125939685&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/00302228221075283
DO - 10.1177/00302228221075283
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85125939685
SN - 0030-2228
VL - 89
SP - 429
EP - 451
JO - Omega (United States)
JF - Omega (United States)
IS - 2
ER -