Attended Group Meetings Research Articles

Process evaluation in an intervention designed to promote physical activity among adults with anxiety disorders: Evidence of acceptability and adherence

To assess the adherence and acceptability of a physical activity program delivered as an adjunct to the usual cognitive behavioural group therapy (CBGT) for adults with anxiety disorders. Seventy-three participants with either a generalised anxiety disorder, social phobia or panic disorder were randomised to either exercise-enhanced CBGT (CBGT+EX) or the usual CBGT plus nutrition education (CBGT+ED) group. Physical activity, stress, anxiety, depression were assessed at baseline; session attendance, compliance and satisfaction were assessed during the eight-week intervention. Forty-five per cent of participants achieved the recommended levels of physical activity for health at baseline. The proportions of participants attending group meetings declined over time across both groups. In the intervention groups (CBGT+EX), a slightly higher proportion of participants attended the CBGT session than the physical activity sessions. Individuals with social phobia were significantly more likely than those with panic or generalised anxiety disorder to adhere to the physical activity program. Among the remaining adherers, most reported satisfaction with their skills development and better understanding of the benefits of physical activity. Time constraints and participants viewing physical activities as irrelevant or detracting them from their psychological treatment are potential factors contributing to low adherence and present as challenges in implementing a physical activity program as adjunctive to psychological treatment. Process evaluation data helped profile participants who adhered or not adhered to the physical activity program and will inform future physical activity promotion to individuals with anxiety disorders.

Engagement and satisfaction with an Internet-based physical activity intervention in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

To assess the engagement in and satisfaction with an Internet-mediated physical activity intervention with individual supervision in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The intervention studied was one of the two strategies aimed at enhancing physical activity in RA patients that were being compared in a randomized controlled trial. A total of 82 patients, all experienced in using Internet and e-mail and registered at three different rheumatology out-patient clinics, were randomly allocated to the Internet-mediated individualized intervention (52 weeks). They had access to personal physical activity schedules and received individual supervision by a physical therapist by means of weekly e-mail feedback. In addition, telephone contacts, an online discussion forum, six face-to-face group meetings and electronic newsletters were offered. Besides registration of returned physical activity schedules, engagement and satisfaction were measured through questionnaires. The median physical activity schedule return rate of the 82 participants was 55%. The mean number of patients logging into the website at least once a week was 53 (70%) over 12 months. Of all patients, 69 returned the questionnaires (response 84%). Telephone contacts were used by 38/67 patients (57%), the mean (SD) number of attended group meetings was 3.1 (1.5) and the discussion forum comprised 15 posted messages. Overall, the proportions of patients being (very) satisfied with the amount of e-mail contacts, telephone contacts, usefulness of website information, physical activity schedules, group meetings and website layout were >/=85%. A smaller proportion of patients were satisfied with the links to other websites (68%), the newsletters (55%) and the online discussion forum (32%). Physical activity schedules with weekly feedback by e-mail, telephone contacts and a limited number of group meetings were frequently used website tools and modes of communication of an Internet-based physical activity intervention, with high-satisfaction rates from RA patients. Discussion forum and newsletters were less used and appreciated. Caution should be taken when extrapolating the results found to groups of patients who are not experienced Internet and e-mail users or patients with more severe physical disabilities.

Employee Perceptions of Diabetes Education Needs: A Focus Group Study

The purpose of this descriptive non-experimental research was to assess employee perceptions of desired diabetes education through focus groups. Thirteen employees of a southern university in three focus groups identified many standard and some emerging educational topics of interest including healthier food choices when eating out, increasing activity, deciding whether highly advertised "special" products for diabetes were necessary, and recognizing the importance of obesity among children. The employees were willing to attend group meetings related to diabetes, but not to pay for them. The information will be used to plan an intervention to promote diabetes prevention and self-management in a worksite environment where diabetes costs are rising rapidly, and to support the need for a university wellness program. Occupational health nurses can address both employees' needs and employers' costs through such a program.

Development of a model for a structured support group for patients following bariatric surgery.

Bariatric surgery is performed to alleviate the major health problems associated with morbid obesity. However, after surgery, patients must learn to deal with new self-images and old behavior patterns that may precipitate a return to the pre-surgery status. Thus, long-term follow-up and continued emotional support are essential ingredients for a successful bariatric surgery outcome. Patients who attend group meetings regularly, tend to lose more weight. Patients are encouraged to participate in a structured support group both before and after bariatric surgery. The current model of the group incorporates self-responsibility, aspects of the "relapse prevention" model, and group therapy processes. Additionally the group is flexible, to adapt to the needs of the evolving group membership.

The Use of Support Groups by Parents of Children with Dyslexia

This paper describes an interview-based study that identified the principal reasons for attending support groups by parents of dyslexic children. Parents could be classified on the basis of the interview responses. One group were information seekers and attended support groups for the purpose of education and research about the learning difficulties of their child. These parents' integrated advice and information obtained through the meetings into their home lives in order to offer educational and emotional support to their children. A second group of parents attended support groups on the basis of a professional recommendation only. A third group of parents attended group meetings for the purpose of emotional support. The informationseeking parents reported greater satisfaction with their experience of attending support groups compared with other parents. Recommendations for further research are made on the basis of this study.

Effect of 6-month adherence to a very low carbohydrate diet program

Purpose To determine the effect of a 6-month very low carbohydrate diet program on body weight and other metabolic parameters. Subjects and methods Fifty-one overweight or obese healthy volunteers who wanted to lose weight were placed on a very low carbohydrate diet (<25 g/d), with no limit on caloric intake. They also received nutritional supplementation and recommendations about exercise, and attended group meetings at a research clinic. The outcomes were body weight, body mass index, percentage of body fat (estimated by skinfold thickness), serum chemistry and lipid values, 24-hour urine measurements, and subjective adverse effects. Results Forty-one (80%) of the 51 subjects attended visits through 6 months. In these subjects, the mean (± SD) body weight decreased 10.3% ± 5.9% ( P <0.001) from baseline to 6 months (body weight reduction of 9.0 ± 5.3 kg and body mass index reduction of 3.2 ± 1.9 kg/m 2). The mean percentage of body weight that was fat decreased 2.9% ± 3.2% from baseline to 6 months ( P <0.001). The mean serum bicarbonate level decreased 2 ± 2.4 mmol/L ( P <0.001) and blood urea nitrogen level increased 2 ± 4 mg/dL ( P <0.001). Serum total cholesterol level decreased 11 ± 26 mg/dL ( P = 0.006), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol level decreased 10 ± 25 mg/dL ( P = 0.01), triglyceride level decreased 56 ± 45 mg/dL ( P <0.001), high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol level increased 10 ± 8 mg/dL ( P <0.001), and the cholesterol/HDL cholesterol ratio decreased 0.9 ± 0.6 units ( P <0.001). There were no serious adverse effects, but the possibility of adverse effects in the 10 subjects who did not adhere to the program cannot be eliminated. Conclusion A very low carbohydrate diet program led to sustained weight loss during a 6-month period. Further controlled research is warranted.

Community volunteers on public land need support

Community volunteers on public land need support

Effects of participation in bariatric support group after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass.

Support group is a service provided by Pacific Bariatric Surgical Medical Group to its gastric bypass patients before and after surgery. It has already been well established that group therapy helps breast cancer patients survive longer. 102 patients answered self-report questionnaires that were mailed out in the spring 1998 newsletter. The questionnaire was designed to investigate weight loss, mood, postsurgical problems, and the reasons patients chose not to attend the support group meetings. The mean preoperative weight was 303.65 lb (137.73 kg), with a mean weight loss of 95.79 lb (43.45 kg). The mean desired goal weight was 152.47 lb (69.16 kg), and there was a 63.3% loss of excess weight. The mean elapsed time since surgery was 15.2 months. After surgery, 25.5% of patients reported seeing a mental health professional. There was no difference in mood between group meeting attenders and nonattenders. There was a statistical trend for more weight loss (P = .08) in group attenders than in nonattenders. For group attenders, the more often patients attended group meetings, the more weight they lost (P < .05). Patients with reported emotional, psychosocial, dietary, and lifestyle problems were no more likely to attend group than nonattenders. The mean weight loss was as good as or better than reported in the literature. Patients who attended group meetings regularly tended to lose more weight, and increased frequency of attendance was associated with greater weight loss. The implications are discussed.

Evaluation of an Inservice Model To Train Child Care Providers About Inclusion

This study investigates the effects of an inservice education project focused on care for children with disabilities. Employees of home- and center-based child care programs were randomly assigned to training and control groups. Caregivers who received training attended group meetings and observed on-site demonstrations under live and videotaped presentation conditions. During the first year, a multidisciplinary team consisting of eight professionals presented monthly workshops and conducted on-site consultation and demonstration visits at the child care settings. During the second year, one professional presented videotapes and led discussions during group meetings, and a graduate student assistant conducted the on-site consultation and demonstration visits. Two control groups of caregivers did not receive any training. Caregivers who participated in the training groups earned significantly higher scores on an observation scale and on a self-rating questionnaire than caregivers who were assigned to the control groups. There were no significant differences between the two training conditions; the video presentations were as effective as the live presentations. This study supports the use of a relatively inexpensive and time-efficient approach to inservice education about inclusion of children with disabilities into child care environments.

Environmental Group Participation

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether participants of environmental groups can be identified and targeted. The three forms of group participation investigated are: making monetary contributions, attending group meetings, and performing volunteer work for environmental groups. Participation in environmental groups is best understood by considering aspects of the helping process, and in terms of personal values. Demographics provided relatively weak results. The empirical findings of this study provide group promoters insights into how group participation can be encouraged.

Partners in Care: A program for family caregivers and nursing home staff

The Partners in Care program was an eight-week education and support group designed to create an environment where family caregivers and nursing home staff could share their knowledge about caregiving and reduce ambiguity about caregiving roles in the nursing home. Twenty-seven caregivers (17 attended group meetings and 10 served as the contrast group) participated in an evaluation of the program. Pretest and post-test scores on the Knowledge of Nursing Home Caregiving scale, staff observations, anecdotal information and continuing partnerships suggest that both staff and family caregivers benefitted from the program. This article describes the development, implementation and evaluation of the Partners in Care program.

Stettegrupper for skizofrene patienters forældre

Contact between psychiatrists and the patient's family have become of current importance after Julian P. Leff and others of his contemporaries have proved that psychosocial interventions in the environment of the patient can have a positive influence on the course of schizophrenia. This article recounts what we have learned from inviting the relatives of schizophrenic patients to attend group meetings, the purposes of which were 1) to create better contact with the ward and 2) to get relatives to talk about mutual problems. Until then the parents' experience with the psychiatric services had been most unsatisfactory. The dominant theme in the current meetings was the feeling of relief at finding fellow sufferers. Information about schizophrenia and discussions about expedient patterns of behaviour when in the company of schizophrenic patients were two equally important subjects. The parents showed their approval by very regular attendance of the meetings but stated at the final evaluation that they would ...

Changing patients' health beliefs to improve compliance with alcoholism treatment: a controlled trial.

The purpose of this study was to examine whether changing the health beliefs of alcoholic patients entering treatment would improve their retention in treatment. A control group received the conventional range of treatment options available at an alcoholism clinic whereas an experimental group received, in addition, an opportunity to attend group meetings where attempts were made to modify their health beliefs. Although this intervention resulted in changes in patients' health beliefs, the subsequent difference between groups in average length of stay in treatment was not statistically significant. Explanations for the only modest success of the belief modification strategy are proposed and implications for the Health Belief Model and patient compliance with alcoholism treatment are discussed.

Child Check: Education of Parents as Early Identification Agents

This paper describes development and field testing of a set of materials and procedures designed to educate parents to act as agents in the early identification of handicapping conditions in young children. The need for education was established through a survey of parents of preschoolers. Two means of disseminating information about early intervention were employed: 1) mass media, including radio and television messages, newspaper stories and distribution of pamphlets and developmental calendars and 2) group meetings employing an instructional film, discussion, calendars and brochures. The results of the efforts indicated that parents attending group meetings learned specific information about services available for young handicapped children and their legal educational rights. Communication via mass media stimulated requests for information but did not measurably affect parents' knowledge about early intervention. Because the materials and procedures served specific educational functions for parents, they would be suitable for incorporation into comprehensive Child Find efforts.

Transition into Parenthood

We decided to establish a parent group at the University of Minnesota Hospital to fill this void for people in this situation. Our parent program is part of our continuity of care approach. This includes a broad prenatal program-early and late pregnancy parent education groups, a familycentered philosophy of maternity care, and postpartum home visits by the primary nurse from the hospital maternity unit. Before we began our program, we asked for recommendations about desirable methods and content from obstetrical nurses, pediatric nurses, medical staff, and new parents. Groups are led jointly by an obstetrical and a pediatric nursethe maternity nurse is involved in the prenatal classes and the pediatric nurse is involved in the pediatric clinic with the families. Meetings are held in the evening to facilitate attendance by both parents and their newborn. Parents begin attending group meetings while the baby is between one and four weeks of age. Informal discussion with au-

An intake group in the alcoholism outpatient clinic.

At an outpatient clinic, alcoholics who attended group meetings dealing with basic communication skills during the admission process missed fewer appointments and more often completed the process than did alcoholics who did not attend the meetings.

Group therapy versus bibliotherapy in weight reduction

Eighty-nine coeds were treated for obesity under three conditions: (a) group therapy, (b) use of a written manual (bibliotherapy), (c) group therapy and bibliotherapy combined. All treatment conditions produced significantly more weight loss than that observed in the control group (p<.01), but the treatment groups did not differ significantly from each other. Subjects who attended group meetings reported their treatments to have been significantly more helpful (p<.05) than did subjects who received the manual only. No differences were observed in therapist effectiveness, and a 4-week follow-up revealed no significant changes in weight. While change in physical activity did not differ across groups, changes in eating habits were significantly different across groups (p<.05).