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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TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the extent that social factors influenced patients with chronic pain when making disability judgments and recommendations for other patients who have chronic pain, and found that patients are influenced by patient and contextual factors when making pain-related and disability judgments for peers.
1 citations
Dissertation•
02 Nov 2012
TL;DR: L’obesite abdominale definie par les valeurs seuils de tour de taille de l’IDF etait associee a un risque plus eleve d’insulino-resistance: risque relatif (RR) = 5,7 (IC 95% : 2,8-11,5).
Abstract: Les objectifs de l’etude de l’evolution du risque cardiometabolique (RCM) sur une periode de quatre ans (2006-2010) chez des adultes beninois consistaient a: • Examiner les relations entre l’obesite abdominale selon les criteres de la Federation Internationale du Diabete (IFD) ou l’insulino-resistance mesuree par le Homeostasis Model Assessment (HOMA) et l’evolution des autres facteurs de RCM, • Examiner les liens entre les habitudes alimentaires, l’activite physique et les conditions socio-economiques et l’evolution du RCM evalue conjointement par le score de risque de maladies cardiovasculaires de Framingham (FRS) et le syndrome metabolique (SMet). Les hypotheses de recherche etaient: • L’obesite abdominale telle que definie par les criteres de l’IDF est faiblement associee a une evolution defavorable des autres facteurs de RCM, alors que l’insulino-resistance mesuree par le HOMA lui est fortement associee; • Un niveau socioeconomique moyen, un cadre de vie peu urbanise (rural ou semi-urbain), de meilleures habitudes alimentaires (score eleve de consommation d’aliments protecteurs contre le RCM) et l’activite physique contribuent a une evolution plus favorable du RCM. L’etude a inclus 541 sujets âges de 25 a 60 ans, apparemment en bonne sante, aleatoirement selectionnes dans la plus grande ville (n = 200), une petite ville (n = 171) et sa peripherie rurale (n = 170). Apres les etudes de base, les sujets ont ete suivis apres deux et quatre ans. Les apports alimentaires et l’activite physique ont ete cernes par deux ou trois rappels de 24 heures dans les etudes de base puis par des questionnaires de frequence simplifies lors des suivis. Les donnees sur les conditions socioeconomiques, la consommation d’alcool et le tabagisme ont ete recueillies par questionnaire. Des mesures anthropometriques et la tension arterielle ont ete prises. La glycemie a jeun, l’insulinemie et les lipides sanguins ont ete mesures. Un score de frequence de consommation d’« aliments sentinelles » a ete developpe et utilise. Un total de 416 sujets ont participe au dernier suivi. La prevalence initiale du SMet et du FRS≥10% etait de 8,7% et 7,2%, respectivement. L’incidence du SMet et d’un FRS≥10% sur quatre ans etait de 8,2% et 5%, respectivement. Le RCM s’etait deteriore chez 21% des sujets. L’obesite abdominale definie par les valeurs seuils de tour de taille de l’IDF etait associee a un risque plus eleve d’insulino-resistance: risque relatif (RR) = 5,7 (IC 95% : 2,8-11,5); d’un ratio cholesterol total/HDL-Cholesterol eleve: RR = 3,4 (IC 95% : 1,5-7,3); mais elle n’etait pas associee a un risque significativement accru de tension arterielle elevee ou de triglycerides eleves. Les valeurs seuils de tour de taille optimales pour l’identification des sujets accusant au moins un facteur de risque du SMet etaient de 90 cm chez les femmes et de 80 cm chez les hommes. L’insulino-resistance mesuree par le HOMA etait associee a un risque eleve d’hyperglycemie: RR = 5,7 (IC 95% : 2,8-11,5). En revanche, l’insulino-resistance n’etait pas associee a un risque significatif de tension arterielle elevee et de triglycerides eleves. La combinaison de SMet et du FRS pour l’evaluation du RCM identifiait davantage de sujets a risque que l’utilisation de l’un ou l’autre outil isolement. Le risque de deterioration du profil de RCM etait associe a un faible score de consommation des «aliments sentinelles» qui refletent le caractere protecteur de l’alimentation (viande rouge, volaille, lait, œufs et legumes): RR = 5,6 (IC 95%: 1,9-16,1); et a l’inactivite physique: RR = 6,3 (IC 95%: 3,0-13,4). Les sujets de niveau socioeconomique faible et moyen, et ceux du milieu rural et semi-urbain avaient un moindre risque d’aggravation du RCM. L’etude a montre que les relations entre les facteurs de RCM presentaient des particularites chez les adultes beninois par rapport aux Caucasiens et a souligne le besoin de reconsiderer les composantes du SMet ainsi que leurs valeurs seuils pour les Africains sub-sahariens. La deterioration rapide du RCM necessite des mesures preventives basees sur la promotion d’un mode de vie plus actif associe a de meilleures habitudes alimentaires.
1 citations
01 Jan 2015
1 citations
TL;DR: The Sons and Daughters of Vietnam Veterans of Australia (SDVVA) Web site was developed to harness the computer literacy of this age group by featuring an online support group that enables discussions, access to information and resources about Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: There are estimated to be approximately 85,000 Australian Sons and Daughters of Australian Vietnam Veterans,1 a group recognized as having a substantially higher rate of suicide than the general Australian population. 2The Sons and Daughters of Vietnam Veterans of Australia (SDVVA) Web site was developed to harness the computer literacy of this age group by featuring an online support group that enables discussions, access to information and resources about Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War, and provides the ability of Sons and Daughters to share experiences with each other. The conceptualization and early development of the Web site was well received by the SDVVA during state-based focus groups, particularly given the complete lack of targeted Web-based information and online support groups. This project is an example of participatory action research (PAR) methodology that was successful in developing the early stages of a community of practice (CoP). This paper discusses how online technologies can be implemented to build a sense of community, trust, and shared values in individuals at higher risk of suicide. It also describes why PAR was chosen as a methodology to meet the challenges and needs of this particular project.
1 citations
01 Jan 2019
TL;DR: Buzzanell et al. as mentioned in this paper investigated the relationship between communication and resilience as expressed by professional basketball players and coaches from a particular city in southwest United States, referred to as PG City.
Abstract: This study, theoretically and methodologically grounded in the ethnography of communication (Hymes 1974; Carbaugh, 1992; Covarrubias, 2008; Philipsen, 1992; Philipsen, Coutu, & Covarrubias, 2005), investigated the relationship between communication and resilience as expressed by professional basketball players and coaches from a particular city in southwest United States, referred to as PG City. Guiding questions include: Is there a basketball culture? Does basketball constitute a speech community? How do basketball and basketball culture help players and coaches fight through adversity? What is the role of resilience within basketball culture? Interviews, using ethnography of communication approaches, were used to uncover elements of resilience in relation to the communication processes of resilience, here defined as the ability to bounce-back and reintegrate after difficult life experiences (Buzzanell, 2010). Using the Hymes (1974) SPEAKING model to analyze participant utterances, this study highlights various elements of basketball culture that are related to experiences of resilience, such as, the grind, don’t talk, and the role of trash-talk as a distinct speech code activated by basketball speech community members. Further, this inquiry shows intrapersonal communication or self-talk to be a key conduit for the
1 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....
[...]
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