Oscillation Design in Online Pet Loss Support Groups: Understanding Motivations, Outcomes, and Challenges

Pet loss is a distressing experience often underappreciated by societal norms, leading to disenfranchised grief. We investigate how bereaved pet owners engage in online support groups, focusing on their motivations, interactions, and challenges. Through in-depth interviews with 18 participants, we identified key motivations for joining, including grief expression and validation, emotional and informational support, anonymity and accessibility. Engagement in these groups facilitated emotional expression, grief validation, memorialization practices, and the development of coping mechanisms, while also fostering shared rituals and collective identity. However, challenges like compulsory grief—where grievers feel pressured to remain in a constant state of mourning—and insufficient support for dynamic coping persisted. Drawing on the dual process model of bereavement, we propose the metaphor of oscillation design, balancing loss-oriented and restoration-oriented coping. Our findings show that current platforms overemphasize loss, underscoring the need for design interventions that rebalance asymmetric oscillation and enable more dynamic coping trajectories.