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Journal ArticleDOI

Who talks? The social psychology of illness support groups.

01 Jan 2000-American Psychologist (American Psychological Association)-Vol. 55, Iss: 2, pp 205-217
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
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01 Jan 2013
TL;DR: Online support communities may provide a useful shared space through which IBD patients may seek and provide both information and emotional support and some negatives aspects were noted.
Abstract: SummaryObjective To explore how participation in an online support communitymay impact upon the experience of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).Design An online survey.Setting Studyparticipantsrecruitedthrough 35IBDonlinecommunities.Participants A total of 249 males and females aged 16–69 years, livingwitheitherCrohn’sdisease(65.9%)orulcerativecolitis(26.1%)orawaitingformal diagnosis (8%).Results Patients reported being members for an average of two years,with the majority accessing the community on a daily (46.9%) or weekly(40%) basis. Spending on average four hours per week online, approxi-matelytwo-thirdsofmemberspostedbetweenoneandfivemessagesperweek. Members joined to find others in a similar situation and to obtainand share information and emotional support. Through participationmembers accessed a wealth of knowledge about all aspects of living withIBD and this was helpful in terms of accepting their illness and learning tomanage it. The community also helped members see their illness morepositively as well as contributing to an improvement in subjective well-being. However, some negatives aspects were noted.Conclusions Online support communities may provide a useful sharedspace through which IBD patients may seek and provide both informa-tionalandemotionalsupport.Manyofthesebenefitsmaynotbeavailablethroughtraditionalhealthcare.Whilstonlinesupportcommunitiesmaybebeneficial for those who choose to participate in them, they are not with-out limitations. Health professionals should be aware of the potentialbenefits and limitations of online communities.

1 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a revue de litterature has been created to evaluate the effets of the use of lieux d'echanges for patients with cancer and cancer du sein.
Abstract: Resume Objectif L’objectif de cette etude est de mettre en exergue les effets de l’utilisation de lieux d’echanges virtuels sur l’adaptation psychologique des patientes a la pathologie cancereuse et notamment au cancer du sein. Methode Pour ce faire, une revue de litterature a ete effectuee. Les bases de donnees Cairn, Wiley Online Library, Taylor and Francis, ScienceDirect, Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR), Communication organisation, PubMed Central NCBI, APA PsycNET, Cross Ref, Oxford Journals, Persee, et Link Springer ont ete explores. Nous avons inclus toutes les etudes quantitatives et qualitatives portant sur l’utilisation de technologies ou de ressources en ligne en lien avec le cancer et plus particulierement le cancer du sein. Resultats Cinquante-deux articles ont alors ete selectionnes. Quarante incluaient exclusivement des femmes atteintes du cancer du sein, et 12 incluaient differents types de cancer (sein, prostate, reins, poumon, sang…). La plupart des etudes ont rapporte des resultats significatifs en termes d’adaptation psychologique : une amelioration du bien-etre emotionnel, psychologique et general ; une diminution de l’anxiete et du stress ; un meilleur optimisme ; une meilleure qualite de vie, ainsi qu’une meilleure participation a la sante. Conclusion Les resultats suggerent une relation positive entre les lieux d’echanges pour les patientes et les resultats concernant la gestion de leur vecu par rapport a la maladie.
Journal ArticleDOI
22 Mar 2021
TL;DR: In this article, a content analysis of personal descriptions published on online forums from women suffering from post-coital dysphoria is presented, and the most popular PCD symptoms are: crying and sobbing what might result from both positive and negative emotions.
Abstract: A phenomenon of postcoital dysphoria is the experience of negative affect after sexual intercourse, specifically speaking: tearfulness, a sense of melancholy or depression, anxiety, or aggression, which is hard to control or minimalize. The causes of this phenomenon are unknown. This article presents a content analysis of personal descriptions published on online forums from women suffering from postcoital dysphoria. The aims of the study are to determine the problem of this phenomenon in personal experiences, to exhibit if psychological description coincides with women’s descriptions, and to check how often women write on forums about their problem. The study was qualitative research: the content analysis of posts appearing on online forums. The study included six online forums related to mental health, relationship, and sexuality. All descriptions have been divided into three groups connected with emotions, behavior, and partner’s response. Due to the qualitative research, the most popular PCD symptoms are: crying and sobbing what might result from both positive and negative emotions. Based-on theory description of PCD symptoms does not coincide with personal experiences. Furthermore, the partner’s response is relevant for understanding and coping with sexual difficulties symptoms. The postcoital dysphoria causes remain multifactorial.

Cites background from "Who talks? The social psychology of..."

  • ...The Internet has been held as a safe place for many societies, where users can raise a discussion which they would not do face-to-face, which can be defined as a self-help category [9, 10]....

    [...]

Book ChapterDOI
01 Jan 2019
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss a theoretische Verortung des Zusammenhangs of sozialen Netzwerken, SNS and Gesundheit.
Abstract: Dieser Beitrag thematisiert Zusammenhange zwischen der Einbindung in soziale Netzwerke im Internet und gesundheitlichen Belastungen. Hierzu werden zunachst wesentliche Begrifflichkeiten eingefuhrt. Online Social Networks (OSN) und speziellere Konzepte wie Social Network Sites (SNS) und Online Health Communities (OHC) werden voneinander abgegrenzt, sowie Ahnlichkeiten und Unterschiede zwischen Offline-Netzwerken und ihren Online-Pendants aufgezeigt. Auf der Grundlage empirischer Evidenz, erfolgt eine theoretische Verortung des Zusammenhangs von sozialen Netzwerken, SNS und Gesundheit. Abschliesend betont der Beitrag zukunftige Herausforderungen der empirischen Forschung zur Gesundheitsrelevanz sozialer Netzwerke im Internet.
01 Apr 2018
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explored the ways in which social support was given and received through the medium of Facebook groups, developed by and for transgender users of the social networking site.
Abstract: The transgender community has unique social support needs due to the myriad of issues surrounding their physical and psychological transition, however identification and discussion of these needs has been neglected in previous literature, which has had an almost exclusively quantitative focus. The present study aimed to explore the ways in which social support was given and received through the medium of Facebook groups, developed by and for transgender users of the social networking site. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with seven transgender participants and the data were subjected to analysis using the principles of thematic analysis established by Braun and Clarke (2006). The analysis led to the uncovering of three main themes – the types of social support on offer, the features of transgender specific Facebook groups, and the role of interpersonal interaction in the perceptions of social support. Previous definitions of social support are expanded upon, suggesting that minority groups may provide social support to peers in a manner specific to that group's needs. Facebook also ­­­­provides a unique space in which to provide support in a manner more suited to the needs of the transgender community. Implications and limitations of the findings are discussed.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
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 1970
TL;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....

    [...]

Journal ArticleDOI
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