<i>My Grief My Way</i> : acceptability of an online Acceptance and Commitment Therapy based bereavement support resource

Many people who are bereaved would benefit from effective bereavement support, yet timely access to this is limited. We developed My Grief My Way, a prototype online bereavement support resource based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, to facilitate access to evidence-based bereavement support, irrespective of geography or time. We sought to explore the acceptability of My Grief My Way for people who have been bereaved. We conducted a convergent mixed-methods study involving online interviews with bereaved individuals and questionnaires administered at baseline and 6-8 weeks after accessing the My Grief My Way website. Participants were 27 bereaved individuals (23 female) recruited from two not-for-profit organisations providing bereavement support in the UK. Mean age was 51 years (range 23-77). Most participants perceived the website as acceptable (user-friendly, flexible, attractive and varied), and a positive experience (supportive and caring, provided a sense of community, helped develop coping skills). Exploratory quantitative analysis suggested improvements in participant mental wellbeing over time. Most who used the website said they would access it again in the future (72%). Our preliminary findings suggest that My Grief My Way is acceptable to bereaved individuals and may be associated with improvements in mental wellbeing. It has the potential to increase access to evidence-based bereavement support in a timely manner. Further research is needed to evaluate impacts in a larger, more diverse sample.