About Online Self-help
How many people participate in self-help?
In the United States, approximately 25 million people during their lifetime, and 8-10 million people annually, have attended 400 different types of self-help groups, comprising 500,000 groups (Kessler & Mickelson, 1997). The number of groups have quadrupled over the last 15 years, due to rising health care costs, insufficient health care resources, an increase in alternative health care, and an emphasis on prevention (Finn, 1999).
What are self-help groups and how do they differ from support groups and treatment groups?
Self-help groups are comprised of individuals who come together for support because they share a common concern or experience, covering many medical and public health issues.This description can also be used in reference to support groups and treatment groups. Making the distinctions between these three groups is important to practitioners when making decisions about which group will best serve a client's needs (Schopler & Galinsky, 1993).
Treatment groups are a form of therapy that are meant to promote significant change for the individual within the group (Schopler & Galinsky, 1993). They are offered through local treatment organizations or by local clinicians in private practice. Groups are led by a qualified professional who uses specialized therapeutic techniques.
Support groups are member-centered, but have a trained leader who has expertise in group facilitation, and may not share the common experience or concern that binds the group together (Schopler & Galinsky, 1993). Support groups are usually sponsored by national or local organizations, or by private practitioners.
Self-help groups may be initiated by professionals or be sponsored by a national or local organization. They provide individuals with a supportive environment to help members cope with their lives outside of the group. (Schopler & Galinsky, 1993). Unlike support groups and treatment groups, self-help groups are organized and run by its members, with their shared common experience serving as the basis of authority (Kessler & Mickelson, 1997). Meetings are usually free or inexpensive, and groups are sometimes involved in advocacy or political action (Humphreys & Ribisl, 1999).
What types of self-help groups are the most popular?
Although there are many different types of self-help groups, Kessler and Mickelson (1997) reported that groups for substance use problems account for more than 1/3 of self-help group participation, have the highest lifetime attendance, and account for more than 70 percent of meeting attendance annually. The groups with the lowest attendance, between one to four meetings over the course of a year, were groups concerning life transitions, bereavement, disability, and physical illness (Kessler & Mickelson, 1997).
Which groups of people are more likely to participate in self-help groups?
Kessler and Mickelson (1997), reported the people more likely to participate in self-help groups, were young, unmarried white women, with less social support in other areas of her life. Women were more than twice as likely as men to participate, except in groups for substance abuse where there was no significant difference. Although blacks were only half as likely to be in a self-help group than whites, no racial differences existed in the level of participation in groups for substance abuse or emotional problems (Kessler & Mickelson).
What are the benefits of self-help groups?
Common benefits of self-help groups include; sharing information, mutual support, problem-solving, overcoming isolation, and empowerment and inclusion through non-hierarchial decision-making (Finn, 1999). Self-help groups can provide support through a difficult time, help people better deal with stressors, and give individuals the benefit of helping and being helped by someone with the same problem, one the main strengths of self-help groups (Riessman, 1997).
In a comparative study of rural and urban self-help groups focusing on people living with AIDS, Carlton and Beck (1993) found that members of both groups were predominantly 40-year-old single males, but members in the rural group tended to find the social and informative aspects of the group most important, whereas the urban group found the emotional and spiritual benefits most important. The rural and urban groups were both able to meet the needs of their members, providing evidence that self-help groups are adaptable and able to successfully develop their own style (Carlton & Beck, 1993).
What are online self-help groups?
Although most self-help groups still conduct meetings in-person at a designated place and time, the number of people choosing to participate in online groups has increased greatly because of the additional advantages they offer, and because of the increased availability and reliability of Internet resources (Madara, 1997). Online groups operate through online media, such as message boards, newsgroups, chatrooms, mailing lists and web sites.
What are the unique advantages of online self-help groups?
Online groups may be especially helpful to those individuals who cannot attend traditional meetings. This may be because they have no means of transportation, they have a rare condition or illness for which no local group exists, they are currently in the hospital, or suffer from agoraphobia (Madara, 1997). Finn (1999) emphasized the importance of online self-help groups for the disabled, citing 1.7 million people who are homebound in the United States because of a disability, and who often have to cope with depression, lonliness and lack of social interaction, in addition to their actual disability.
Online groups offer several benefits, such as 24-hour availability, accessibility from home, and anonymity, which may make it easier for participants to discuss sensitive topics and enhance equality, as physical characteristics and social status are not as obvious (Madara, 1997). Because of the world-wide availability of the Internet, online groups may also offer its participants a global perspective, and allow people to share journal entries and other forms of expression with many other people.
What are the unique disadvantages of online self-help groups?
The disadvantages of an online self-help group as opposed to a traditional self-help group, include; the absence of group rules and guidelines, the sharing of wrong information among members and the inability to dispute it in a timely manner, and proposed concern over the use of the Internet replacing more personal forms of social contact (Finn, 1999). In addition, online groups are only accessible to those with computer skills, and groups may be the target of verbal harassment, junk e-mail, and observation without their knowledge (Madara, 1997).
How do online self-help groups measure up?
A study by Finn (1999) suggests than an online self-help group dealing with issues of disability can provide many of the conditions thought to be therapuetic in traditional groups. He found that the majority of the discussion in the group he studied consisted of members expressing feelings and providing support and information, with the most frequent topics of discussion being related to health issues and interpersonal relationships. In addition, the online group seemed to increase rather than decrease social participation, for those who were already isolated because of a disability.
References
Carlton, T., & Beck, R. (1993). Self-help groups for HIV seropositive people. American Rehabilitation, 19(3), 2-10.
Finn, J. (1999). An exploration of helping processes in an online self-help group focusing on issues of disability. Health and Social Work, 24(3), 220-231.
Humphreys, K., & Ribisl, K. (1999). The case for partership with self-help groups. Public Health Reports, 114(4), 322-328.
Kessler, R., & Mickelson, K. (1997). Patterns and correlates of self-help group membership in the United States. Social Policy, 27(3), 27-47.
Madara, E. (1997). The mutual-aid self-help online revolution. Social Policy, 27(3), 20-27.
Riessman, F. (1997). Ten self-help principles. Social Policy, 27(3), 6-12.
Schopler, J., & Galinsky, M. (1993). Support groups as open systems: A model for practice and research. Health and Social Work, 18(3), 195-208.
