Vietnamese immigrant women in Taiwan are at increased risk of anxiety, and community-based group interventions can provide them an accessible form of assistance. Understanding and serving the counseling needs of Vietnamese immigrant women is a new challenge for Taiwan counseling professionals. This study presents the results of outreach efforts by…

On basis of literature review, distinguishes support groups from self-help and treatment groups. Proposes open systems model for understanding factors that affect support groups, for guiding interventions, and for evaluating their outcomes. Describes four conceptual dimensions: environmental conditions; participant group characteristics; group…

Examines the different roles of the volunteer: companion/friend, advocate, and educator. Draws a profile of the volunteer, lists qualifications and personal characteristics, offers suggestions on where to work, and discusses special training programs to prepare volunteers for work with the dying. (JAC)

Describes model for support groups for children of divorce developed at Marriage Council of Philadelphia. Gives details about group organization, illustrative case material, and typical concerns that group members work with throughout group sessions. Summarizes reported effects of support group involvement and considers ways of intervening in…

Presents view of caregiver stress as consequence of process comprising number of interrelated conditions, including the socioeconomic characteristics and resources of caregivers and the primary and secondary stressors to which they are exposed. Claims coping and social support can potentially intervene at multiple points along the stress process.…

Discusses factors involved in parental bereavement, including the unnaturalness of the child predeceasing the parents, social reactions to the death of a child, the loss of the spouse as a primary support during the grieving process, and grief-related problems with surviving children. Treatment recommendations are presented. (NRB)

Describes how a university-affiliated women's support group coped with the serious illness and subsequent death of one of its members. Both individual and group reactions are noted. Also explores the normal grieving process, pathological grief reactions, and the relationship of death to group termination. (Author)

Presents an heuristic model of the personality characteristics of adolescents and the supportive dimensions of interactions, relationships, and groups. The results of several empirical studies are presented to illustrate the model. Together, these studies present a transactional picture of the personality of adolescents and their relationships in…

Notes that, in rehabilitation, denial can motivate individuals to work on behavioral sequelae of neurological deficits or it can impede rehabilitation by impairing one's ability to acknowledge sequelae. Reviews effect of denial and describes management strategy to address denial. (Author/NB)

Reviews three workplace changes (downsizing, diffusing information via computerized telecommunication technologies, and increasing reliance on high-involvement team approaches) and examines their implications for employees and their families. Proposes that these changes are related to workplace characteristics that impact families, including work…

Discusses perceptions of the bereaved that make support groups necessary and the process by which such groups work. Notes that bereavement support groups first produce sense of community with other bereaved persons, then allow group members to begin to concern themselves again with issues other than bereavement. (Author/NB)

Occurring in about 12 percent of postpartum women, postpartum depression has been focus of considerable research. Variables that have been correlated with postpartum depression range from biological causes, to lack of social support, to relationship with husband, to attributional styles, to psychodynamic explanations. There is need for more…

Examined whether family variables were directly related to adolescents' glycemic control or were mediated by their relationship to treatment adherence. Findings suggest that family support for diabetes care may be related to adolescents' treatment adherence in meaningful ways. Relationship between family support and other diabetes-specific…

Describes Comunidades Eclesial de Base (CEBs) or base communities which are self-help and mutual aid groups that assist in alleviating the effects of poverty and powerlessness in Latin America. Discusses two potential problems of CEBs - that they may encourage either passivity or increased violence. (Author/NB)

Discusses the benefits of support, the format and design of existing self-help and support groups for individuals with eating disorders, and current controversies on the use of these groups. (Author/ABB)