Date of Publication

2012

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Psychology

Subject Categories

Psychology

College

College of Liberal Arts

Department/Unit

Psychology

Thesis Adviser

Maria Caridad H. Tarroja

Defense Panel Chair

Ron R. Resurreccion

Defense Panel Member

Roseann Tan Mansukhani
Roberto E. Javier, Jr.

Abstract/Summary

Online journaling, or blogging as commonly known, offers its user a venue where one is free to express thoughts and emotions while offering opportunities for feedback and social connection from its readers. Given the body of literature that explored writing as a therapeutic process, this study looked at the function of blogging in response to natural disaster and explored the bloggers cognitive appraisal, coping and psychological resources as seen through their blog entries. Content analysis of 67 blog entries written by 15 Filipino bloggers about their experience of Typhoon Ondoy showed that blogging served four important functions: as a means of journaling, to disseminate information, as a medium of coping, and as a means to build discussion. In their blog entries, it was seen that while the bloggers cognitively appraised the disaster as a traumatic and horrific event, it was manageable and temporary. The disaster further served as a reminder that allowed people to change and be proactive in the face of natural disasters. The bloggers also wrote about both problem-focused and emotion-focused coping strategies that enabled them to respond to their experience of disaster through giving them a venue to express release tension, express their emotions freely and help them heal from the trauma they experienced. Their entries also gave evidence to important psychological resources such as having personal character strengths and the availability of social support contributed to their ability to adapt to their experience of natural disaster. An important finding in this study is that for the bloggers, helping others in need was important. In the blog entries they wrote, they called for bayanihan which suggests that through blogging, pakikipagkapwa, pakikisama and pakikiramay takes on a new virtual dimension.

Abstract Format

html

Language

English

Format

Electronic

Accession Number

CDTG005472

Shelf Location

Archives, The Learning Commons, 12F Henry Sy Sr. Hall

Physical Description

99 leaves, 4 3/4 in.

Keywords

Blogs; Blogs—Psychological aspects; Disasters—Blogs

Upload Full Text

wf_yes

Download

Share

COinS