Working with groups

Running Head: WORKING WITH GROUPS
Working with Groups
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Article #

1

APA Citation

Houston, T. K., Cooper, L., & Ford, D. E. (2002). Internet Support Groups for Depression: A 1-Year Prospective Cohort Study. The American Journal of Psychiatry , 2065-2068.

What is the article about?

The study was conducted on 103 users of such groups with the median age of 40 years. They were followed prospectively for use of support group, depression care, score on Social Support Survey, and on Center for Epidemiology Studies Depression Scale (CES-D Scale), at baseline, six and twelve months.

Why was the research performed?

The aim of the research was to study the characteristics of users of internet-based support groups for depression and to study the impact of such groups on symptoms of depression and social support.

Findings

It was found that 50% of the participants used the internet-based support groups frequently (at least 5 hours a week). 72.6% of the participants were still fully participating in the group during the follow-up. The frequent users of the support groups were more likely to have decreased depression than others. No change was noticed in the social support scores.

Strengths

The authors made use of both, social support scores and CES-D Scale to show the impact on internet-based support groups increasing the reliability of the findings.

Weaknesses

The sample mostly consisted of middle-aged women and thus represents a limited population.

Implications for Practice

Though the study highlight s the importance of internet-based support groups, it fails to study the impact these groups have on depression and so further research is required in this regard.

Key Words

Internet-based support groups, depression, social support, primary care.

Article #

2

APA Citation

Goodwin, P. J., Leszcz, M., & Ennis, M. (2001). The Effect of Group Psychosocial Support on Survival in Metastatic Breast Cancer. The New England Journal of Medicine , 1719-1726.

What is the article about?

The article discusses the findings of 235 women diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer, with an expected survival chance of at least three more months. 158 were assigned to the experimental group, i.e. the group that received supportive-expressive group therapy once a week, while 77 women were assigned to the controlled group, i.e. the group the received no such therapy. The impact of therapy was assessed with the help of self-reported questionnaires.

Why was the research performed?

The aim was to find out whether supportive-expressive group therapy extends the survival of patients suffering from metastatic breast cancer.

Findings

It was found that though supportive-expressive therapy did reduce psychological symptoms, i.e. they reported less pain compared to the control group, it did not increase survival, however, the therapy was only beneficial for distressed patients as less distressed participants did not benefit from the therapy.

Strengths

The study provides essential data on what can be done to reduce psychological stress of metastatic breast cancer patients and uses a relatively large sample increasing the validity of the findings.

Weaknesses

The study only focuses on patients suffering from metastatic cancer patients, excluding the patients that may have other types of cancer.

Implications for Practice

Since it is clear in this study that supportive-expressive therapy can reduce psychological symptoms of metastatic breast cancer patients, future studies can be conducted to find out whether the impact is same on patients suffering from other kinds of diseases causing distress.

Key Words

Metastatic breast cancer, supportive-expressive therapy, survival chance

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