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
04 Apr 2019
TL;DR: This paper uses domain-independent and domain-dependent sentiment features as two distinct sets of views of a post and utilize them in order to identify the multi-class sentiment expressed using an adaptive co-training model and demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
Abstract: Online health communities have become an important resource that both patients and family members rely on to gain medical information and interact with contributors and experts outside the clinical setting. However, few studies have focused on analysing sentiment in medical forum discourse. Analysing sentiment expressed by members of a health community in medical forum discourse can be of significant value, such as by identifying characteristics of an information space, determining themes that predominate among a large dataset, and allowing people to summarize topics within a big data set. In this paper, we identify sentiment expressed in online medical forums discussing Lyme Disease and lupus. In many sentiment analysis applications, the labelled training datasets are fairly expensive to obtain, whereas unlabelled datasets are readily available. Therefore, we propose an adaptation of a well-known semi-supervised learning technique, in which co-training is implemented by combining labelled and unlabelled data. We use domain-independent and domain-dependent sentiment features as two distinct sets of views of a post and utilize them in order to identify the multi-class sentiment expressed using an adaptive co-training model. The results of our experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
3 citations
Cites background from "Who talks? The social psychology of..."
...In these online communities, members use the platforms in order to receive support through discussing aspects of their health-related issues, to question symptoms, treatments and side effects, and to share their health experiences [1]....
[...]
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors draw on in-depth analysis of the benefits of social support and question whether the perceived efficacy of support depends upon its source, and the source of support.
Abstract: Scholarship indicates that there are many benefits of social support, yet theoretical questions remain as to whether the perceived efficacy of support depends upon its source. Drawing on in-depth i...
3 citations
Cites background from "Who talks? The social psychology of..."
...Similarly, Davison, Pennebaker, and Dickerson (2000) found that, absent expert others, peer supporters are a desirable source of support because they have experience in managing a stressor (Davison et al. 2000)....
[...]
...Similarly, Davison, Pennebaker, and Dickerson (2000) found that, absent expert others, peer supporters are a desirable source of support because they have experience in managing a stressor (Davison et al. 2000). Relative to other sources, peer supporters can offer community, exchange of knowledge, and empowerment, all of which are areas in which individuals’ primary support networks of significant others may fall short (Ussher et al. 2006). By providing individuals with an outlet through which they can cope with a stressor and gain valuable insights as to how to do so, peer supporters (i.e., similar others) may also help ease tension within individuals’ intimate relationships, thus allowing significant others to provide the types of emotional support not necessarily available from similar others with whom individuals are less closely tied (Ussher et al. 2006). Intervention research has also begun to identify specific conditions under which significant and similar other support might be most effective. For example, scholarship suggests that peer support may be most effective when it emerges from organically formed relationships with individuals concurrently experiencing a stressor, as opposed to strategically cultivated relationships with similar others who have previously experienced the stressor. In evaluating how similar other support influenced the health experiences of men undergoing heart surgery, Thoits et al. (2000) found that bringing in an experienced similar other to support patients carried no significant health benefits, but that informal interaction with other patients on the cardiac ward benefited patients both physically and psychologically....
[...]
TL;DR: In this paper, the determinants and effects of social affinities and social isolation after an emotional event were studied and found that people either seek out others' presence (social affiliation) or avoid others' absence (social isolation).
Abstract: . After experiencing an emotional event, people either seek out others’ presence (social affiliation) or avoid others’ presence (social isolation). The determinants and effects of social af...
3 citations
01 Jan 2010
TL;DR: There is little evidence supporting the significant long-term positive effects of mutual support groups on families’ and consumers’ psychosocial health conditions except illness relapse.
Abstract: This chapter summarizes the literature from a systematic search and assesses the evidence on the effectiveness and therapeutic ingredients of mutual support groups for helping family caregivers of people with severe mental health problems. This review used a combined free-text and thesaurus approach to search relevant research articles within major electronic databases and System for Info on gray literature for the period 1988–2008 and reference lists of all retrieved literature. Twelve research studies were selected for inclusion in the analysis on the basis that they were family-led support group programs for caregivers of people with severe mental health problems. Many studies reported different benefits of group participation such as increasing knowledge about the illness and enhancing coping ability and social support. However, there is little evidence supporting the significant long-term positive effects of mutual support groups on families’ and consumers’ psychosocial health conditions except illness relapse. Qualitative studies identified four potential therapeutic mechanisms of family mutual support groups. The authors also discuss lessons learned from development of and evaluation on family-led support groups including the major principles in establishing and strengthening a support group, barriers to its development and families who are likely to attend and benefit from group participation.
3 citations
Cites background from "Who talks? The social psychology of..."
...Basing on the findings of a study on illness experiences in four metropolitan areas and online forums in the United States ( Davidson, Pennebaker & Dickerson, 2000 ), support seeking is highest for illnesses viewed as socially stigmatizing and embarrassing such as AIDS, schizophrenia, and other severe mental illnesses, or disfiguring such as eating disorder and breast cancer, leading people to seek the support of others in similar ......
[...]
01 Oct 2010
TL;DR: A qualitative analysis of two online groups, established for research purposes, enabled a comparison of disclosure processes in young people with chronic skin conditions and factors including rapport and anonymity are identified as influential in this mediation of social support.
Abstract: While self-disclosure is an important feature of adolescent peer friendships there is little evidence to identify how disclosure processes are affected by the online environment. A qualitative analysis of two online groups, established for research purposes, enabled a comparison of disclosure processes in young people with chronic skin conditions. Young people with psoriasis took part in a series of real-time discussions, while counterparts with vitiligo communicated through a non-real-time message board. The groups were observed and content analysis was used to identify the forms of support exchanged. Both groups used disclosure to elicit and provide support although interaction styles varied between the groups. Factors including rapport and anonymity are identified as influential in this mediation of social support. The findings are compared to a model of self-disclosure in online support groups (Tichon and Shapiro, 2003) and implications for online interventions with young people are considered.
3 citations
Cites background from "Who talks? The social psychology of..."
...As signs of physical appearance are absent in the online environment (Davison et al., 2000), individuals with stigmatising disorders may be more willing, and feel more comfortable, discussing sensitive issues (Finfgeld, 2000), particularly with peers who share uncommon conditions....
[...]
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