Who talks? The social psychology of illness support groups.
TL;DR: Support seeking was highest for diseases viewed as stigmatizing and was lowest for less embarrassing but equally devastating disorders, such as heart disease, and implications for social comparison theory and its applications in health care are discussed.
Abstract: More Americans try to change their health behaviors through self-help than through all other forms of professionally designed programs. Mutual support groups, involving little or no cost to participants, have a powerful effect on mental and physical health, yet little is known about patterns of support group participation in health care. What kinds of illness experiences prompt patients to seek each other's company? In an effort to observe social comparison processes with real-world relevance, support group participation was measured for 20 disease categories in 4 metropolitan areas (New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Dallas) and on 2 on-line forums. Support seeking was highest for diseases viewed as stigmatizing (e.g., AIDS, alcoholism, breast and prostate cancer) and was lowest for less embarrassing but equally devastating disorders, such as heart disease. The authors discuss implications for social comparison theory and its applications in health care.
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01 Jan 2005
TL;DR: chapter 1 Coping with Prostate Cancer 1 1.i Acknowledgements iii List of Appendices vii List of Tables viii Chapter 1
Abstract: The population of Australia is increasing in age, consequently the incidence of cancer diagnoses is rising. This rise will have a dramatic impact on hospitals with much of the disease burden extending to psychological support for cancer care. At present few men diagnosed with cancer seek support. This study sought to explore men's perceptions of support and prostate cancer support groups. The benefits of support groups for men with prostate cancer have been well documented in international studies. In Australia however, relatively few men diagnosed with prostate cancer join such groups and few studies have examined the factors that influence membership and attendance. This study investigated the experiences of a sample of 181 Australian men diagnosed with prostate cancer, 80 of whom were members of support groups and 107 who were not. The participants were recruited from prostate cancer support groups and an outpatient department of a major cancer hospital, in Melbourne, Australia. The two groups were compared on a range of factors, including disease characteristics, illness perceptions and views of prostate cancer support groups. Further, members of support groups rated a number of objectives to determine the effectiveness of the groups. The majority of members recommended prostate cancer support groups to other men with prostate cancer (92%), however of the non-members of prostate cancer support groups, almost half (48%) had never heard of them. Factors that discriminated between support group members and non-members were emotional perceptions of the illness, symptom reports and illness coherence, with support group members reporting higher scores on these variables. Length of diagnosis and age were also factors that discriminated between the groups with support group members younger and diagnosed longer than non-members. There were no differences between the groups on personal control, both groups reported high perceptions of control over the disease. Members reported more benefits and less costs associated with prostate cancer support groups than non-members. Benefits included information, support, sharing experiences, and supporting other men with the disease. Costs included negative discussions, other men dying, and the distance required to travel to the groups. Both members and non-members reported distance to travel to the groups as a major barrier to attendance. The majority of members had heard of the groups through friends and, for non-members who had heard of the groups, through hospital staff. General practitioners were one of the least likely sources of information about prostate cancer support groups reported by members. Prostate cancer support group members reported high levels of satisfaction with the groups on a range of objectives outlined by the Cancer Council of Victoria. Making friends and accessing community assistance exceeded men's expectations of attendance, however men reported a desire for more information and communication. A need for more funding, advertising, and recognition of prostate…
5 citations
01 Jan 2010
5 citations
Cites background from "Who talks? The social psychology of..."
...While patient self-management programs occur in a classroom environment and are taught by one or two individuals, support groups are generally facilitated by professionals, lay persons, or peers who share the same disease as the participant (Davison et al., 2000)....
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..., 2000; Im & Chee, 2008; Kurtz, 1997; Lieberman & Russo, 2001-2002; Merrill, 1993), achieve a sense of empowerment (Buchanan & Coulson, 2007; DeCoster & George, 2005; Kurtz, 1997; van Uden-Kraan et al, 2008b), or escape social stigma associated with their health condition (Davison et al., 2000)....
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...participants and are referred to in the literature as peers (Davison et al., 2000)....
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...Support groups offer more than just a space to discuss personal experiences (Davison et al., 2000; van Uden-Kraan, Drossaert, Taal, Shaw, Seydel, & van de Laar, 2008b)....
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...facilitated by professionals, lay persons, or persons who share the same disease as the participant (Davison et al., 2000)....
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11 Oct 2013
5 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore ethical dilemmas in examining a particular research question, while attempting to work within a self-help ethos that endorses particular practices, and encourage debate on ethical matters in SHSG research so as to improve future investigations.
Abstract: Despite the potential benefits of research, Self-Help Support Groups (SHSGs) pose an interesting challenge to researchers. There can be ethical dilemmas in examining a particular research question, while attempting to work within a self-help ethos that endorses particular practices. These challenges can be found in research involving group participants who experience mental health issues. This is explored in the following article, with reference to a recent study into the group experiences of young people with mental health issues. The article does not offer concrete solutions to these difficulties, lest the discussion be prematurely closed. Rather, it encourages debate on ethical matters in SHSG research so as to improve future investigations. SELF-HELP SUPPORT GROUPS Research into Self-Help Support Groups (SHSGs) is a relatively new phenomenon, taking flight in the United States in the mid 1970s. Within this period, research has proliferated making use of various epistemological and methodological approaches (see Kurtz, 1997; Kyrouz & Humphreys, 2000). Collectively the research has enhanced our understanding about how these groups operate (Levy, 1976; Rootes & Aanes, 1992), why some people find them beneficial (Bolzan, Smith, Mears, & Ansiewicz, 2001), why others terminate their involvement (Heller, Roccoforte, & Cook, 1997), and how they figure into conventional healthcare systems (Humphreys, 1999; Kaufmann, Schulberg, & Schooler, 1994).
4 citations
Cites background from "Who talks? The social psychology of..."
..., 2001; Kloos, 2001); the issue(s) that brought them to the group (Davison et al., 2000); their relationships with others; and their place in society and/or the universe (Kennedy & Humphreys, 1994)....
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...…these individuals often come to construct different understandings—of themselves (Bolzan et al., 2001; Kloos, 2001); the issue(s) that brought them to the group (Davison et al., 2000); their relationships with others; and their place in society and/or the universe (Kennedy & Humphreys, 1994)....
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Proceedings Article•
01 Jan 2015TL;DR: The personal opinion of the expert seems to have a major impact, undermining the relevance of the criterion and an existing rating tool on a set of social network web sites is used to assess the capabilities of these tools.
Abstract: Background and objectives Suspected adverse drug reactions (ADR) reported by patients through social media can be a complementary tool to already existing ADRs signal detection processes. However, several studies have shown that the quality of medical information published online varies drastically whatever the health topic addressed. The aim of this study is to use an existing rating tool on a set of social network web sites in order to assess the capabilities of these tools to guide experts for selecting the most adapted social network web site to mine ADRs. Methods First, we reviewed and rated 132 Internet forums and social networks according to three major criteria: the number of visits, the notoriety of the forum and the number of messages posted in relation with health and drug therapy. Second, the pharmacist reviewed the topic-oriented message boards with a small number of drug names to ensure that they were not off topic. Six experts have been chosen to assess the selected internet forums using a French scoring tool: Net scoring. Three different scores and the agreement between experts according to each set of scores using weighted kappa pooled using mean have been computed. Results Three internet forums were chosen at the end of the selection step. Some criteria get high score (scores 3-4) no matter the website evaluated like accessibility (45-46) or design (34-36), at the opposite some criteria always have bad scores like quantitative (40-42) and ethical aspect (43-44), hyperlinks actualization (30-33). Kappa were positives but very small which corresponds to a weak agreement between experts. Conclusion The personal opinion of the expert seems to have a major impact, undermining the relevance of the criterion. Our future work is to collect results given by this evaluation grid and proposes a new scoring tool for Internet social networks assessment.
4 citations
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors pointed out that there is a strong functional tie between opinions and abilities in humans and that the ability evaluation of an individual can be expressed as a comparison of the performance of a particular ability with other abilities.
Abstract: Hypothesis I: There exists, in the human organism, a drive to evaluate his opinions and his abilities. While opinions and abilities may, at first glance, seem to be quite different things, there is a close functional tie between them. They act together in the manner in which they affect behavior. A person’s cognition (his opinions and beliefs) about the situation in which he exists and his appraisals of what he is capable of doing (his evaluation of his abilities) will together have bearing on his behavior. The holding of incorrect opinions and/or inaccurate appraisals of one’s abilities can be punishing or even fatal in many situations. It is necessary, before we proceed, to clarify the distinction between opinions and evaluations of abilities since at first glance it may seem that one’s evaluation of one’s own ability is an opinion about it. Abilities are of course manifested only through performance which is assumed to depend upon the particular ability. The clarity of the manifestation or performance can vary from instances where there is no clear ordering criterion of the ability to instances where the performance which reflects the ability can be clearly ordered. In the former case, the evaluation of the ability does function like other opinions which are not directly testable in “objective reality’. For example, a person’s evaluation of his ability to write poetry will depend to a large extent on the opinions which others have of his ability to write poetry. In cases where the criterion is unambiguous and can be clearly ordered, this furnishes an objective reality for the evaluation of one’s ability so that it depends less on the opinions of other persons and depends more on actual comparison of one’s performance with the performance of others. Thus, if a person evaluates his running ability, he will do so by comparing his time to run some distance with the times that other persons have taken. In the following pages, when we talk about evaluating an ability, we shall mean specifically the evaluation of that ability in situations where the performance is unambiguous and is known. Most situations in real life will, of course, present situations which are a mixture of opinion and ability evaluation. In a previous article (7) the author posited the existence of a drive to determine whether or not one’s opinions were “correct”. We are here stating that this same drive also produces behavior in people oriented toward obtaining an accurate appraisal of their abilities. The behavioral implication of the existence of such a drive is that we would expect to observe behaviour on the part of persons which enables them to ascertain whether or not their opinions are correct and also behavior which enables them accurately to evaluate their abilities. It is consequently
16,927 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1878
TL;DR: The Red River of the North basin of the Philippines was considered a part of the Louisiana Purchase by the United States Department of Commerce in the 1939 Census Atlas of the United Philippines as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: 1 Includes drainage basin of Red River of the North, not a part of any accession, but in the past sometimes considered a part of the Louisiana Purchase. i Includes Baker, Canton, Enderbury, Rowland, Jarvis, Johnston, and Midway Islands; and also certain other outlying islands (21 square miles). 3 Commonwealth of the Philippines, Commission of the Census; 1939 Census, Census Atlas of the Philippines. Source: Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census.
10,650 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1970TL;DR: Yalom as mentioned in this paper described the course of therapy from both the patient's and the therapist's viewpoint in Encounter Groups: First Facts (1973) and Every Day gets a Little Closer: A Twice-Told Therapy (1974).
Abstract: This book first appeared in 1970 and has gone into two further editions, one in 1975 and this one in 1985. Yalom is also the author of Existential Psychotherapy (1980), In-patient Group Psychotherapy (1983), the co-author with Lieberman of Encounter Groups: First Facts (1973) and with Elkin of Every Day Gets a Little Closer: A Twice-Told Therapy (1974) (which recounts the course of therapy from the patient's and the therapist's viewpoint). The present book is the central work of the set and seems to me the most substantial. It is also one of the most readable of his works because of its straightforward style and the liberal use of clinical examples.
4,235 citations
"Who talks? The social psychology of..." refers background in this paper
...In a similar vein, Yalom (1995) has asserted that self-help groups offer a unique venue for growth, social experimentation, and change....
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TL;DR: Greater use of the Internet was associated with declines in participants' communication with family members in the household, declines in the size of their social circle, and increases in their depression and loneliness.
Abstract: The Internet could change the lives of average citizens as much as did the telephone in the early part of the 20th century and television in the 1950s and 1960s. Researchers and social critics are debating whether the Internet is improving or harming participation in community life and social relationships. This research examined the social and psychological impact of the Internet on 169 people in 73 households during their first 1 to 2 years on-line. We used longitudinal data to examine the effects of the Internet on social involvement and psychological well-being. In this sample, the Internet was used extensively for communication. Nonetheless, greater use of the Internet was associated with declines in participants' communication with family members in the household, declines in the size of their social circle, and increases in their depression and loneliness. These findings have implications for research, for public policy and for the design of technology.
4,091 citations
3,765 citations