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: Prototypes and cooperation with potential users were essential and valuable for the iterative development of the website and motivation and hindrances to using the tool were illuminated.
Abstract: Scand J Caring Sci; 2011 Online self-help tools for the relatives of persons with depression - a feasibility study Background: The Internet's potential as health care tool should be explored. Aim: One objective was to determine the feasibility of constructing a digitally based tool through an iterative design process in cooperation with potential users. The tool's purpose is to alleviate hardships in daily life of relatives of persons with depression. An additional aim was to explore motivation and hindrances to using the tool as a basis for design decisions. Method: An iterative design approach, including data collection through focus groups and with paper and web-based prototypes, was used. Results: Cooperation with potential users, using an iterative design process, was valuable in developing the digitally based tool. Motivations (i.e. to create understanding and rehabilitate oneself) and hindrances (i.e. lack of time or energy) to using the tool were illuminated. Design decisions were based on consideration towards participants' privacy concerns, needs of support and the depression's influence on the relatives' daily life. Conclusion: Prototypes and cooperation with potential users were essential and valuable for the iterative development of the website. (Less)
7 citations
TL;DR: The ways in which complex social networks can be both beneficial and damaging toward the recovery process and the implications for clinical care of patients with orofacial injury are discussed.
7 citations
Cites background from "Who talks? The social psychology of..."
...Online support groups, chat rooms, or blogs have the potential to be the useful forms of social support and are beginning to be studied as a resource for support and information, particularly for isolated groups.(42,43) One example is the Let’s Face It Web site, an ‘‘international support network for people with facial disfigurement, their families, friends, and professionals’’ based on a self-help philosophy (www....
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TL;DR: The Scleroderma Support group Leader EDucation (SPIN-SSLED) Program was developed to provide training to support group leaders and was recently tested through a feasibility trial.
Abstract: This review presents evidence on support group effectiveness in common diseases, research on support groups in systemic sclerosis (SSc), and work underway by the Scleroderma Patient-centered Intervention Network in collaboration with patient organizations to train SSc support group leaders in order to improve support group access and the experiences of support groups for members and leaders. Giving and receiving emotional and practical support from others with SSc is an important reason that individuals with SSc attend support groups, but many patients cannot access support groups. SSc support group leaders report confidence in their ability to facilitate groups, but are less confident in tasks such as managing group dynamics and sustaining the group. The Scleroderma Support group Leader EDucation (SPIN-SSLED) Program was developed to provide training to support group leaders and was recently tested through a feasibility trial. A full-scale trial will commence in 2019.
7 citations
TL;DR: Therapists appear to be biomechanically oriented which may impact outcomes, and an inverse correlation was found where the less experience participants had, the more likely they were to refer to psychosocial services.
Abstract: Background: Research demonstrates that hand injuries may cause psychological difficulties. To enhance recovery, therapists must provide appropriate referrals. The purpose of this study was to explo...
7 citations
01 Dec 2010
TL;DR: A systematic review of empirical studies on whether participating in mutual help groups for mental health problems leads to improved psychological and social functioning is presented in this paper. But, as stated in the review, the results of the studies varied in terms of design quality and reporting of results.
Abstract: This chapter systematically reviews empirical studies on whether participating in mutual help groups for mental health problems leads to improved psychological and social functioning. It first outlines how mutual help groups fit into the broader picture of mental health self-help initiatives, and discusses some issues involved in conducting effectiveness research on mutual help groups (i.e., how to determine whether they are beneficial to their members). The methods and results of the review are then presented. To be included, studies had to satisfy four sets of criteria, covering: (1) characteristics of the group, (2) target problems, (3) outcome measures, and (4) research design. The 12 studies meeting these criteria provide limited but promising evidence that mutual help groups benefit people with three types of problems: chronic mental illness, depression/anxiety, and bereavement. Seven studies reported positive changes for those attending support groups. The strongest findings come from two randomized trials showing that the outcomes of mutual help groups were equivalent to those of substantially more costly professional interventions. Five of the 12 studies found no differences in mental health outcomes between mutual help group members and non-members; no studies showed evidence of negative effects. There was no indication that mutual help groups were differentially effective for certain types of problems. The studies varied in terms of design quality and reporting of results. More high-quality outcome research is needed to evaluate the effectiveness of mutual help groups across the spectrum of mental health problems.
7 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....
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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