An exploration of social and workplace bereavement support: comparing interactional

This research study seeks to investigate the social and workplace experiences of the
traumatically bereaved (those who have experienced sudden loss through unforeseen,
violent or accidental circumstances). These experiences and environments are often crucial
to the experience and outcomes of traumatic bereavement, but have received little attention
from Sociologists. Drawing on symbolic interactionist theory and the sociology of emotions,
this project examines this through a qualitative study of the interactional and policy
dynamics between grieving individuals, members of their nominated network (social and
workplace) and Human Resource professionals and line managers, focusing on three forms of
traumatic bereavement: bereavement through traffic collisions, suicide and Covid-19. The
aim is to discover more about how things appear from the perspectives of non-bereaved
individuals as they apprehend the traumatically bereaved. Ultimately, these findings may
offer nuanced insight into the social and workplace processes operating in the context of
grief, and to what extent such processes are indicative of positive support for the
traumatically bereaved.