Self-help Support Research Articles

Physician and consumer attitudes and behaviors regarding self-help health support groups as an adjunct to traditional medical care.

This study assessed the creditability of self-help health support groups as an adjunct to traditional medical care among a sampling of physicians (N = 120) and group members (N = 73) located in the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metropolitan area. Findings suggest a general lack of awareness of local groups among physicians, referral to only a few select groups, as well as little communication between health care professionals and their patients. Physicians in group practice, surgical specialties, and having never referred patients to support groups responded less favorably. Several benefits were reported by the group members, although for a majority their patient-physician relationship remained relatively unchanged.

Reliability and validity of a psychotic traits questionnaire (STQ)

The 'schizotypal personality' (STA) and 'borderline personality' (STB) scales of the STQ were administered to two groups: normal subjects who had completed the questionnaire on a previous occasion, four years earlier, and a 'clinical' sample, consisting of members of a self-help support group for people who at some time in the past had been psychiatrically diagnosed as suffering from a psychotic illness, mainly schizophrenia. As predicted, the latter had significantly higher scores than controls on both STQ scales, certain items also being particularly discriminating. Within the control group a test-retest analysis revealed correlations which, depending on scale and gender, were around .60. It was concluded that the STQ is a valid measure of psychotic traits and that scores on the questionnaire have good long-term stability. The results are discussed against the background, and in support of, a continuity view of psychosis.

Perceived Social Support for Caregiving

Literature affirming the importance of social supports and the popularity of a self-help ideology have resulted in professional initiation of support groups. Support groups have become an important source of help particularly for caregivers of Alzheimer's victims. However, existing measures of social support assess the benefit of family and friend relationships and not the unique contribution of relationship developed in support groups. This study represents a preliminary report on a 9-item scale (Perceived Social Support for Caregiving) developed to include aspects of self-help support as well as information exchange and emotional support. In addition, a 3-item scale (Social Conflict) was developed to measure negative aspects of supportive relationships. The two scales were developed through factor analysis on a sample of 206 caregivers. Both have good internal consistency and can be easily adapted for use with other populations participating in self-help and support groups.

Israeli and U.S. Orientations Toward Self-Help Groups for Families in Crisis

This article explores the orientations toward self-help and mutual support groups held by people facing family crises in the United States and Israel. People from four different kinds of self-help groups in the two nations— Parents of Children with Cancer and Parents of Murdered Children, from the United States, and Parents of Mentally Ill Children and Members of Families of New Immigrants, from Israel—report on the kinds of activities and programs that their self-help and mutual support groups undertake and on the benefits that they receive from participation. The results indi cate that these voluntary organizations can be helpful to people facing family crises. Further analysis distinguishes the differential impact on these reports of the types of family crises involved and the national cultures and social service systems of Israel and the United States.

Support for Parents of Children with Cancer

Self-help and mutual support groups play an important role in the spectrum of resources useful to parents of children with cancer. These groups can provide parents with opportunities to share their experiences with other parents in similar situations, to learn from and teach others, and to create a new social network. While much has been written about such groups, very little attention has focused on factors related to parents evaluation of their group experience. This paper examines factors related to parents' perceptions of the value of self-help groups.

Systemic organizational support for self-help groups.

A framework for analyzing relationships between self-help groups and systemic organizational support is presented and two affiliation hypotheses tested. Self-help group birthrates in New Jersey over an 18-month period exceeded death rates. Affiliated groups greatly outnumbered independent groups but the birthrate for the latter was higher. Death rates for different types of groups were similar, except for Alcoholics Anonymous groups, which had a higher survival rate.

Work site group meetings and the effectiveness of a televised smoking cessation intervention.

At the work site, smoking accounts for increased health care expenses and worker absenteeism due to smoking-related illness and reduced productivity and lost wages. Developing comprehensive and accessible smoking cessation programs at the work site is an important objective for health care professionals. In this study, employees of 43 corporations participated in a televised smoking cessation program accompanied by self-help manuals. The media component involved presenting a smoking cessation program on a network television affiliate station during the 4:30 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. news for 20 days. Employees at half the corporations also had access to semiweekly self-help group meetings. Adding self-help support groups to a program involving self-help manuals and the media reports was found to significantly increase abstinence and its maintenance over time. The implications of using the media, self-help groups, and work site locations in large-scale community-based interventions are discussed.

Application of the Normalization Principle to Support Groups for Parents with Children in Residential Treatment

The authors draw on the principle of normalization as a philosophical underpinning in their work with groups of parents who have children in residential placement. The normalization framework is used to focus on a host of usual parental concerns which result from having children in placement. In this context, no assumptions are made about pathology or addressed in the group. The vehicle utilized to deal with the parental concerns is the support group. In this article the authors discuss how support groups lend themselves to the implementation of the normalization principle. Differences as well as similarities are pointed out between psychotherapy groups and support groups. The normative properties of small face-to-face groups are pointed out as are a variety of events and processes that are sought after by people who participate in self-help or mutual-aid support groups.

Social Support and Perinatal Outcome

As critics such as Thomas McKeown (12) have pointed out, Western medicine is concerned firstly with the promotion of medical care and only secondarily with the promotion of health care. Medical care and health care are not necessarily the same thing. There are ways of caring for people's health which do not involve medical examinations, procedures, and drugs—they involve such activities as health education, preventive health care, self-help, and community support. However, since these alternative routes to health mostly lie outside the theory and practice of professional medical care provision, their impact on health and illness is largely unexamined.

Evaluating self-help support groups for medical students.

Self-help support groups for medical students represent one strategy for dealing with the emotional stresses of medical training and the diminished human sensitivity of students that often accompanies that experience. Support groups at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine were evaluated by 26 students who completed a nine-part questionnaire. The respondents indicated that they were primarily drawn to these groups because of a desire for social affiliation and an opportunity to express their feelings in a "safe" environment. Members shared in the leadership responsibilities of the group and dealt with external personal problems of the students rather than with the internal group dynamics. The gains derived from participation in these groups included opportunities for nonprofessional contact with faculty members, getting help and support from fellow students, and participation in stimulating discussions about the medical field. Students rated the groups as "meaningful" and expressed a desire for more frequent meetings.

Evaluating Medical Student Self-Help Support Groups

Evaluating Medical Student Self-Help Support Groups

Parents anonymous - self-help treatment for child abusing parents: A review and an evaluation

Parents and children experiencing an episode of homelessness face a variety of adverse factors that can increase their risk of difficult relationships and even child maltreatment. Parent support programs have been suggested as one way to strengthen parent-child relationships and decrease risk of child maltreatment for this vulnerable population, but such programs have not been rigorously evaluated. This study was designed to investigate if Circle of Parents, a self-help support group developed to decrease child maltreatment, was a feasible, acceptable, and effective intervention for parents residing in shelters (N = 80). The investigation utilized a quasi-experimental design using propensity score analysis with a services-as-usual comparison group. The Protective Factors Survey (PFS) and a client satisfaction questionnaire served as the primary outcome measures and group facilitators provided information about feasibility of the intervention within shelters. Promising evidence was found for the acceptability and feasibility of Circle of Parents. However, analyses of PFS data showed little difference between the intervention and services-as-usual comparison groups. Overall, findings pointed to emerging positive findings but underscored the need for continued controlled examination of the effectiveness of Circle of Parents implemented in shelters and transitional housing.