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: Kaptein et al. as discussed by the authors hebben onderzocht waar LitMed in de medische curricula in Nederland een plaats heeft.
Abstract: Het onderzoeks- en onderwijsgebied Literatuur & Geneeskunde (LitMed) is een onderdeel van wat in het internationale taalgebruik Medical Humanities wordt genoemd. De auteurs van het Raamplan 2009 bepleiten opname van LitMed in het medisch curriculum. We hebben onderzocht waar LitMed in de medische curricula in Nederland een plaats heeft. Tevens bezien we LitMed binnen de veranderingen in de geboden medische zorg, vooral aan mensen met chronische ziekten. ‘Self-management‘ en ‘shared decision making’ geven het verhaal van de patient gewicht, hetgeen de toegevoegde waarde van LitMed onderstreept. We bespreken genres, bronnen en effecten van LitMed. Een korte beschrijving van een Honours Class LitMed in het Leids Universitair Medisch Centrum illustreert bovengenoemde thema’s. LitMed verdient het object van wetenschappelijk onderzoek te worden, mede om de positie ervan in het medisch curriculum verder te onderbouwen en te versterken. (Kaptein AA, Geest S van der, Meulenberg F. Verhalen verhalen. Tijdschrift voor Medisch Onderwijs 2011;30(3):91–100.)
TL;DR: In this article , the authors combine statistical physics and complex network theory tools to analyze the distribution of group sizes in three data sets, Meetup groups based in London and New York and Reddit, showing that all three distributions exhibit log-normal behavior that indicates universal growth patterns in these systems.
Abstract: Social groups are fundamental elements of any social system. Their emergence and evolution are closely related to the structure and dynamics of a social system. Research on social groups was primarily focused on the growth and the structure of the interaction networks of social system members and how members’ group affiliation influences the evolution of these networks. The distribution of groups’ size and how members join groups has not been investigated in detail. Here we combine statistical physics and complex network theory tools to analyze the distribution of group sizes in three data sets, Meetup groups based in London and New York and Reddit. We show that all three distributions exhibit log-normal behavior that indicates universal growth patterns in these systems. We propose a theoretical model that combines social and random diffusion of members between groups to simulate the roles of social interactions and members’ interest in the growth of social groups. The simulation results show that our model reproduces growth patterns observed in empirical data. Moreover, our analysis shows that social interactions are more critical for the diffusion of members in online groups, such as Reddit, than in offline groups, such as Meetup. This work shows that social groups follow universal growth mechanisms that need to be considered in modeling the evolution of social systems.
TL;DR: Findings show that features that are often mentioned in literature on computer-mediated communication are recognized, but appreciated differently by users that vary in the degree to which they perceive to suffer from a stigmatized condition or are restricted in their mobility.
Abstract: This study investigates what it is in health-related forums that attracts people to make use of them, and how people feel that using these forums helps them in coping with the situation they are facing. Results are based on an online questionnaire (N = 166) among users of a variety of health forums. Findings show that features that are often mentioned in literature on computer-mediated communication (i.e., the anonymity it affords, the text-based character it has, and the possibility it offers to network expansion) are recognized, but appreciated differently by users that vary in the degree to which they perceive to suffer from a stigmatized condition or are restricted in their mobility. Stigmatization is related to appreciation of anonymity, and restriction of mobility to network expansion.
Proceedings Article•
26 Mar 2013
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used a mixed-method design, with pre-post measures at a 12-week interval, to evaluate the effectiveness of Talking Point, the UK Alzheimer's Society's online support forum for carers of people with dementia.
Abstract: Background: The wellbeing of informal carers of people with dementia is an important public health issue. Caring for an elderly relative with dementia may be burdensome and stressful, and negatively affect the carer’s social, family and professional life. The combination of loss, the physical demands of caregiving, prolonged distress, and biological vulnerabilities of older carers may compromise their physical health, increase social isolation and increase the risk of anxiety and depressive disorders. Increased caregiver stress is also linked to negative outcomes for the recipient of care and costs to society, including increased nursing home and hospital admissions. Consequently, carer support interventions are an important component of dementia care. Computer-mediated carer support offers a range of potential advantages compared to traditional face-to-face support groups, including accessibility and the possibility of tailoring to meet individual needs, but there has so far been little research on its effectiveness. The present study used a mixed-method design, with pre-post measures at a 12 weeks interval, to evaluate the effectiveness of Talking Point, the UK Alzheimer’s Society’s online support forum for carers of people with dementia. It examined users’ psychological changes over time, and their experiences of the forum.
Objectives: It was hypothesised that users would show reductions in anxiety and depression and an improved relationship quality with the person that they are caring for, and that the magnitude of such changes would be correlated with the amount of forum usage. The overall aim of the study was to help carers’ organisations make the best use of online support forums, and to ensure that support networks are designed so that carers gain maximum benefit.
Methods: A mixed-methods approach was used, with quantitative and qualitative components. Over 60 new users of Talking Point completed measures of anxiety (GAD-7), depression (PHQ-9), and quality of relationship with the person with dementia (SQCRC), at baseline and again after 12 weeks of forum usage. In addition, approximately 12 participants were interviewed in order to examine their detailed experiences of being on Talking Point and any positive or negative changes resulting from their use of the forum. Interviews were analysed using thematic analysis.
Results and Conclusions: Research in progress. []
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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