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.
Citations
More filters
TL;DR: This exploratory study analyzed 1352 messages posted to an active Facebook diabetes group to identify the characteristics of the group and revealed that the group was international in nature and shaped as a social network where peer users share social support, cultivate companionship, and exert social influence.
Abstract: As one of the largest social networking sites in the world, Facebook holds a great potential for promoting health. In this exploratory study, we analyzed 1352 messages posted to an active Facebook diabetes group to identify the characteristics of the group. The results revealed that the group was international in nature. Users overcame language barriers to communicate with people with similar conditions. Users’ interactions were structured around information, emotion, and community building. They exchanged medical and lifestyle information, and highly valued their peers’ personal experiences, opinions, and advice. They also demonstrated a positive attitude toward the reality of living with diabetes and generously provided encouragements and affirmations to one another. Great efforts were made to maintain the proper operation of the community by the administrator and a group of core members. As a result, the group was shaped as a social network where peer users share social support, cultivate companionship, and exert social influence. Based on the results, we discussed future directions for research of health communities in a highly connected world.
168 citations
Cites background from "Who talks? The social psychology of..."
...A great amount of research has demonstrated that people with stigmatized diseases, such as AIDS, STDs, prostate cancer, and mental disorders, perceive online support groups as a safe platform to seek and share information and help [23, 24]....
[...]
TL;DR: A model is presented that explicates the discursive, cognitive, and affective processes that function to reduce emotional distress and help improve one's psychosocial well-being and identifies unique attributes of online social interaction that may be especially useful for facilitating empathic and adaptive comforting communication.
168 citations
Cites background from "Who talks? The social psychology of..."
...As Davison, Pennebaker, and Dickerson (2000) suggest, research on online supportive communication ‘‘has unknown, and largely unstudied, potential.’’...
[...]
TL;DR: In this article, a parent group intervention designed to promote adaptation among families with children with chronic medical conditions is described. And the rationale, goals, and guidelines of this 8-session intervention are provided.
Abstract: &NA; Raising a child with a congenital anomaly or other chronic medical problem challenges families. Although most families are resilient, depending on families' relative balance of strengths and vulnerabilities, chronic child health conditions can contribute to problems with parenting and family relationships. We believe interventions can broadly promote family well‐being by focusing on parental emotional, cognitive, and behavioral adaptation to their child's condition. Parents' adaptation to their child's diagnosis has been found to predict both family well‐being and their child's attachment security. After reviewing these and other relevant findings on families with children with chronic medical conditions, the second half of this article describes a parent group intervention designed to promote adaptation among such families. The rationale, goals, and guidelines of this 8‐session intervention are provided. Considerations and unanswered questions about implementing the intervention are also discussed.
167 citations
TL;DR: It is argued that groups formed by people with personal experience of a condition are now more widespread, and this has the potential for patients and carers to shape services in ways more responsive to their needs.
Abstract: This paper argues that a health consumer movement has developed in the United Kingdom over the last decade. Drawing on two empirical studies of groups that promote and/or represent the interests of patients, users and carers, it argues that groups formed by people with personal experience of a condition are now more widespread. Feelings of pain and loss can lead to the identification of others in a similar position, and to the formation of groups and action in the political sphere. Research shows that groups share a common discourse and follow similar participative practices, and there is extensive networking. Informal and formal alliances have formed to pursue joint action and indicate a wider health consumer movement. As governments have also increased the opportunities for participation, this has the potential for patients and carers to shape services in ways more responsive to their needs.
160 citations
TL;DR: The results of this study suggest the importance of clinician referrals to groups, and the need to make groups available to under-served populations.
Abstract: This study identified factors associated with support group participation among families of children with autism. A survey was administered to 1005 caregivers of children with autism in Pennsylvania. Two-thirds of respondents (66.4%) had ever participated in an autism-specific support group. In adjusted analyses, demographic characteristics, including age and sex of the child, ethnicity and parental education and income, were associated with support group participation. Parents of children with self-injurious behavior, sleep problems or severe language deficits were more likely to belong, as were parents whose diagnosing clinician referred them to a support group. The results of this study suggest the importance of clinician referrals to groups, and the need to make groups available to under-served populations.
158 citations
Cites background from "Who talks? The social psychology of..."
...For families like these, for whom sources of instrumental, informational and emotional support are critical to wellbeing, support groups can be a powerful adjunctive resource, as they are for millions of other Americans who are dealing with chronic health conditions (Davison et al., 2000)....
[...]
References
More filters
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....
[...]
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