Journal ArticleDOI
Who talks? The social psychology of illness support groups.
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TLDR
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.read more
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The role of online support communities: benefits of expanded social networks to patients with psoriasis
TL;DR: The data demonstrate that psoriasis virtual communities offer users both a valuable educational resource and a source of psychological and social support, and could be further enhanced by physician engagement within these communities.
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The effectiveness and active ingredients of mutual support groups for family caregivers of people with psychotic disorders: a literature review.
Wai Tong Chien,Ian Norman +1 more
TL;DR: A systematic search of the research literature found that most studies on this group programme used qualitative, exploratory cross-sectional surveys and quasi-experimental study designs, but many of these studies lacked rigorous control and did not use standardised and valid instruments as outcome measures or schedule follow-up to examine the long-term effects of support groups on families and/or patients.
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A Review of Peer Support in the Context of Cancer
TL;DR: The authors reviewed the research literature on psychosocial oncology over the past decade to assess the prevalence and contribution of articles on peer support, and suggested that peer support programs help by providing emotional and informational support from the perspective of shared personal experience.
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The challenge of fitting in: non-participation and withdrawal from an online self-help group for breast cancer patients.
TL;DR: It is suggested that an adoption of the biomedical explanation model represents an important background for this pattern, an argument which contrasts prominent assumptions about the new healthcare user who does not accept the biomedical 'restitution story' in her efforts to make sense of an illness.
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New directions for critical internet health studies: representing cancer experience on the web.
TL;DR: Using existing methods for analysing media texts and developing new methods where appropriate, sociologists and media analysts interested in health need to develop more critical perspectives on this important new medium.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
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Internet paradox: A social technology that reduces social involvement and psychological well-being?
Robert E. Kraut,Michael Patterson,Vicki Lundmark,Sara Kiesler,Tridas Mukophadhyay,William L. Scherlis +5 more
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.
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