Journal ArticleDOI
Who talks? The social psychology of illness support groups.
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
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
An Organizational Ecology of National Self-Help/Mutual-Aid Organizations:
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe the central patterns of growth, decline, and persistence of national self-help/mutual-aid organizations, their formal diversification, and the extent to which subpopulations gain market share.
Journal ArticleDOI
Personal Health Record Reach in the Veterans Health Administration: A Cross-Sectional Analysis
Stephanie L. Shimada,Cynthia Brandt,Hua Feng,Hua Feng,D. Keith McInnes,D. Keith McInnes,Sowmya R. Rao,Sowmya R. Rao,James A. Rothendler,James A. Rothendler,David A. Haggstrom,Erica A. Abel,Lisa S Cioffari,Lisa S Cioffari,Thomas K. Houston,Thomas K. Houston +15 more
TL;DR: In this phase of early adoption, opportunities are being missed for those with specific medical conditions that require intensive treatment and self-management, which could be greatly supported by functions of a tethered personal health record.
Journal ArticleDOI
Virtual Support Communities and Psychological Well-Being: The Role of Optimistic and Pessimistic Social Comparison Strategies
Anika Batenburg,Enny Das +1 more
TL;DR: Results showed that the relationship between online activity i.e., length of visits and frequency of posts and psychological well-being was determined by users' pessimistic social comparison strategy; downward identification influenced especially highly active users.
Journal ArticleDOI
Women's perceptions of the effectiveness of telephone support and education on their adjustment to breast cancer.
TL;DR: Evidence is reported that telephone support is an effective alternative to support groups and may be appropriate for those with limited access to such groups because of geography, work demands, or family situations.
Proceedings ArticleDOI
Co-training over domain-independent and domain-dependent features for sentiment analysis of an online cancer support community
Prakhar Biyani,Cornelia Caragea,Prasenjit Mitra,Chong Zhou,John Yen,Greta E. Greer,Kenneth M. Portier +6 more
TL;DR: Domain-dependent and Domain-independent sentiment features are used as the two complementary views of a post and used for post classification in a semi-supervised setting using the co-training algorithm.
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.
Journal ArticleDOI