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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Dissertation•
17 Jul 2013TL;DR: Examination of prostate cancer online support groups suggests that they can be an effective and cost-efficient source of support and information for prostate cancer patients and their caregivers, and have a significant impact on their sense of empowerment.
Abstract: The psychosocial challenges of living with prostate cancer have been well documented. Whilst information and support can help ameliorate these challenges, research points towards several barriers to obtaining support face-to-face. Recent research suggests that online support groups can help empower members to become active healthcare participants. Few studies, however, have examined the role of these groups in the context of prostate cancer. This research programme seeks to examine how, if at all, participation within prostate cancer online support groups empowers members. In Study 1, an analysis of 631 messages posted to prostate cancer online support groups was undertaken to explore the beneficial processes observed in members’ communication. In Study 2, open-ended surveys were employed to collect qualitative data from 147 members to explore their perception of empowering processes and outcomes within the groups. In Study 3, quantitative surveys (n=195) were employed to examine the extent to which members experience these processes and outcomes and the relationship between the two. The findings point towards the existence of several empowering processes, such as informational and emotional support exchange, encountering similar others and the ability to discuss sensitive issues. Empowering outcomes commonly experienced by the members included increased knowledge, the ability to participate in treatment-related decisions, an increased sense of community and enhanced communication with their medical practitioner. The processes significantly predicted the outcomes, with ‘information exchange’ consistently being the most significant predictor. This indicates that the processes, and particularly informational support in these groups, play an important role in empowering members. Although some negative processes have been identified, the positive aspects outweigh the negatives. These findings suggests that prostate cancer online support groups can be an effective and cost-efficient source of support and information for prostate cancer patients and their caregivers, and have a significant impact on their sense of empowerment.
6 citations
TL;DR: Wall posts from Facebook patient support groups for May Thurner syndrome, thoracic outlet syndrome, and superior mesenteric artery syndrome were analyzed and indicated common main cognitive and affective uses across conditions, indicating a consistent pattern of needs communicated by all patients.
Abstract: Rare disease patients are the predominant group of patients who are now connecting online to patient support groups, yet research on their uses of support groups has received little attention. This...
6 citations
Cites background from "Who talks? The social psychology of..."
...In particular, those with health conditions that are ignored or misunderstood have a stronger desire for online support groups and use them more than those with other health conditions (Davison et al., 2000)....
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Dissertation•
01 Jan 2016
6 citations
Cites background from "Who talks? The social psychology of..."
...gender) may not be apparent by the cyber-identity name unless disclosed (Davison et al., 2000)....
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...ISGs provide a place for support that navigates around obstacles that may exist in current face-to-face social networks (Davison et al., 2000)....
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...illness (Davison et al., 2000) and feel less isolated (Nimrod, 2012b)....
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01 Jan 2011
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the empirical, practical, and clinical aspects of group counseling online and make specific recommendations for planning, starting, and managing a peer group online, and explain the risks, potential benefits, and conflict resolution strategies.
Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the empirical, practical, and clinical aspects of group counseling online. Specific recommendations for planning, starting, and managing a peer group online are presented. The major benefits of online groups are enhancement of a participant's sense of wellbeing, confidence, control, and social and emotional support. In self-help communities, members voluntarily seek support and may not screen themselves for depression, suicidality, or other mental health problems, and there may be limited or absent leadership in peer groups. Many leaders do not have training in mental health or group facilitation and experience in professional mental health, therefore they can benefit from training. The chapter explains the risks, potential benefits, and conflict resolution strategies, and provides clinical examples.
6 citations
01 Jan 2011
TL;DR: In this paper, the interactive processes of risk and protective factors for deaf adolescents are examined, focusing on the typical experience of growth and development, looking at skills and experiences common to all deaf children and youth.
Abstract: In this chapter we look at the interactive processes of risk and protective factors for deaf adolescents. We start by examining the typical experience of growth and development, looking at skills and experiences common to all deaf children and youth. Although we include the experience of youth in crisis (deaf youth in foster care and in group homes), we discuss not their dysfunctional homes and related challenges, but rather their functioning in terms of how communication, family relationships, and educational experiences affect their lives and shape their sense of self. A focus on the ability to deal effectively with the stresses of normal life, as Masten (American Psychologist 56:22–35, 2001) emphasizes, is an important first step to understanding resilience in deaf people. Our focus is not on the remarkable or exceptional deaf individual, but rather on how deaf adolescents deal with the everyday processes of life and avoid being beaten down by them.
6 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