The directory lists approximately 120 mutual support groups concerned with the medical and psychological impacts of genetic disorders and birth defects on individuals and their families. The groups are dedicated to serving the ongoing emotional, practical, and financial needs of these populations. The entries are arranged alphabetically and include information on name of organization, address, phone number, executive director, contact person, chapters/satellites, purpose, and educational...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Congenital Impairments, Genetics, Organizations (Groups), Social Support Groups
This document presents findings and conclusions drawn from a study that identified almost 30 community initiatives aimed at improving youth services; examined 10 of these initiatives in some depth; and focused intensively on documenting the history and status of three of the initiatives that best demonstrate the potential effect that broad-based community planning and monitoring might have on the availability, scope, quality, and focus of community-based youth services. Section I provides an...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Adolescents, Community Role, Social Support Groups, Youth Programs
This study examined the role of the church in providing elderly women with a structure within which to maintain social contact and spiritual support into old age. Twenty-one middle-class, older white women, all of whom lived in the same small Ohio town, attended the same Methodist church, and belonged to the same Sunday school class, were interviewed (n=21). Three themes emerged from the interviews: (1) the class members were very close to one another; (2) the impact of widowhood upon church...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Church Role, Churches, Females, Older Adults, Social Support Groups
This document includes an introduction by Marie E. Cowart and the following papers: (1) "Building Partnerships" (Margaret Lynn Duggar); (2) "Rating Scale of Communication in Cognitive Decline" (Rick Bollinger and Carol J. Hardiman); (3) "Role Adaptation in the Employed Adult Female Caregiver Following Transitional Nursing Support" (Margaret H. Brackley); (4) "Support for Maintaining Independence in the Elderly--Future Requirements and Solutions: Florida's...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Caregivers, Home Programs, Human Services, Older Adults, Social Support Groups
Alzheimer's disease is characterized by a degeneration and shrinkage of brain tissue; the symptoms include progressive memory loss, bizarre behavior, difficulty in speaking and walking, incontinence, and confusion. Positive diagnosis is possible only upon examination of brain tissue at autopsy. The disease affects not only the patient but also the caregiver, who for the first few years is usually a family member. Witnessing the mental deterioration of a loved one can weigh heavily on the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Caregivers, Diseases, Information Sources, Mental Disorders, Older Adults, Social...
Due to the high cost of professional services for the emotionally disturbed it is often the case that community-based aftercare programs for this population rely heavily on the use of volunteers to provide direct supportive functions. This study used a structured interview to attempt to describe the perceptions of volunteers of the informal helping relationship in a community-based aftercare program for the emotionally disturbed. The participants were 18 volunteer informal helpers. The results...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Counseling, Emotional Disturbances, Helping Relationship, Nonprofessional Personnel,...
A major focus in the literature on rural aging has been the dearth of formal services available in rural areas and the unique features of service delivery in rural communities. It has not generally been recognized that rural older adults are not passive recipients of services and care but rather, active manipulators of social support systems through which they meet their perceived needs and the needs of others in their network. This multi-phase study examined care giving and care receiving by...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Aging (Individuals), Caregivers, Females, Older Adults, Rural Population, Social...
Online support groups provide an alternative vehicle of support for people in distress by linking people who have similar problems. They have the potential to improve the access and delivery of support to a wide range of people, including some who would not seek face-to-face support at all. Online support groups reduce the sense of isolation caused by geographic or physical/medical constraints and increase feelings of validation. However, they are not for everyone. This digest examines the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Counseling, Internet, Social Support Groups, Technology, Gary, Juneau M., Remolino,...
All chronic illnesses represent assaults on multiple areas of functioning, not just the body. To examine the association between painful chronic illnesses and depression from a cognitive-behavioral perspective, 100 patients of the Pain Management Program at the West Haven, Connecticut Veterans Administration Hospital (78% males) completed a battery of tests. The tests assessed depression, pain severity, life interference attributed to pain, perceived self-control, and social support. An...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Depression (Psychology), Diseases, Life Satisfaction, Locus of Control, Patients,...
As research on social support and informal helping has increased, there have been more calls for consultation efforts that might strengthen informal helping networks. Many support-oriented consultation interventions attempt to bolster informal helping systems by modifying informal caregivers' attitudes toward their helping role, building their helping skills, and/or altering the structure of their network ties. A review of work on consultation efforts with informal caregivers from an ecological...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Consultation Programs, Helping Relationship, Intervention, Program Evaluation, Social...
This study investigated the influence of social support on a person's career choice and its impact on later achievement, testing the hypotheses that social support that pressures a person into entering a given field will lead to lower achievement, and that social support that contributes to the person's development of a professional identity will result in higher achievement. Subjects were 1,156 medical students who entered medical school between 1976 and 1981. In the first year of this...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Achievement, Career Choice, Higher Education, Medical Students, Professional...
As a two-year "veteran," the author remembers well how much a little moral support and a smile can mean for a newly-minted teacher. It kept her going in those first few exhausting, confusing weeks. Building those connections is vital both for new teachers and for their profession. With so many new teachers leaving after just a few years (over 50%!--according to the latest figures), schools should all be putting out the welcome mat. In this article, the author offers 10 ways to make...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Beginning Teachers, Social Support Groups, Teacher Persistence, Beginning Teacher...
The elderly have generally been portrayed as needy recipients of services; only recently has attention been paid to their contributory role. To explore the nature and characteristics of helping behavior among urban elderly, 117 residents of senior citizens' housing sites in Detroit completed the Altruism Scale for the Elderly and a second measure consisting of a semantic differential scale and open-ended items designed to elicit information about their helping patterns. Analysis of results...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Altruism, Gerontology, Helping Relationship, Motivation, Older Adults, Rewards,...
Current technology enables people to cope with grief through participation in online support groups from the comfort and privacy of their home. The three aspects of grief are emotional, physical, and behavioral. Facing the void left and dealing with the feelings of isolation after the loss of a loved one can be accomplished through online support groups. These kinds of groups experience high usage after tragic events, such as the recent numerous school shootings. This digest discusses increased...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Coping, Counseling, Grief, Internet, Social Support Groups, Technology, Gary, Juneau...
To locate possible causes for the gender and race differences observed in adolescent health status, an analysis was made of the relationship between the scores of a national sample of 12- to 17-year-old adolescents on selected items of the National Center for Health Statistics' Health Examination Survey. Thirty survey items indicating social support given to or received by an adolescent and nine items representing feelings of self-esteem were organized into seven separate scales and entered...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Adolescents, Racial Differences, Self Esteem, Sex Differences, Social Support Groups,...
The psychological benefits of employment may be particularly reduced for working mothers by the stresses of parenting young children. This study was designed to investigate specific relations between three sources of perceived support (spouse, extended family, friend) and five aspects of experienced psychological health (tension, depression, irritability, fatigue, and well-being) in 115 married, high-achieving, full-time working mothers of preschoolers from the New York Metropolitan Area....
Topics: ERIC Archive, Employed Parents, Family Relationship, Friendship, Mothers, Preschool Children,...
This compilation of materials offers an overview paper and an annotated bibliography on self-determination. The overview paper on self-advocacy for individuals with developmental disabilities, authored by Michael Kennedy and Patricia Killius, presents a definition of self-advocacy, notes that poor communication skills should not prevent an individual from participating in community living, emphasizes that self-advocacy means having choices and having a say about services, and presents...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Developmental Disabilities, Independent Living, Personal Autonomy, Self Advocacy,...
This study examined the relationship between qualitative and quantitative indicators of social support in the prediction of depression. Quantitative indicators were examined with regard to their direct effects on depression as well as their indirect effects through their relationship to perceived social support. Subjects were 301 community-dwelling elderly persons who were age 65 or older and in good physical and mental health. Subjects were interviewed three times; depression was assessed by...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Comparative Analysis, Depression (Psychology), Older Adults, Predictor Variables,...
While research strongly suggests that social support can be effective in helping patients increase their compliance with medical regimens, many more specific questions remain unanswered. These include: (1) how are physicians using social support in an effective manner; (2) what are the most effective ways for physicians and their office staff to involve social support network members and significant others in patients' care; (3) what is the most effective way to teach physicians how to involve...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Compliance (Psychology), Family Relationship, Helping Relationship, Hypertension,...
Traditionally, a "rural" community refers to a community with low population density, which is relatively isolated from a metropolitan area, and which is economically based around the agriculture industry. This is in contrast to the "urban" community, which refers to a community with high population density or to one that is contained within or adjacent to a metropolitan center, with the economy based on a variety of industries. This study examined differences in the social...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Adults, Helping Relationship, Interpersonal Relationship, Rural Urban Differences,...
This paper notes that the rapid increase in the number of support groups for older persons and for their caregivers necessitates a look at the role of the professional as a facilitator of support groups. It defines the concepts of social support and support group and then proceeds to describe the dynamics of a suport group. Definitions proposed by several authors are discussed. The role and function of the facilitator at each stage in the life of the support group are presented. Tables are...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Counselor Role, Developmental Stages, Group Dynamics, Leadership Training,...
The Minnesota Senior Study, the first statewide survey of the elderly in nearly 20 years, was based on a telephone survey with a statewide sample of 1,500 non-institutionalized Minnesotans age 60 and older. Substantial numbers of Minnesotans age 60-plus were found to have low social contacts. Five percent, or about 33,000 older Minnesotans, fell into the "isolation" pattern. They saw both family and friends no more than monthly. All together, 30 percent, or about 200,000 older persons...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Aging (Individuals), Older Adults, Social Isolation, Social Networks, Social Support...
The purpose of this directory is to facilitate networking and collaboration among those caring for or providing support services to children with chronic illness or disabling conditions. It is hoped that this directory will enable parents to identify other parents who share their interests and concerns, as well as assist professionals in locating parents whose skills and expertise can assist them in improving community support for children with special needs and their families. The directory,...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Community Resources, Disabilities, Diseases, Family Programs, Parent Materials,...
This document contains a brief bibliography of peer-reviewed literature, with abstracts, on family support networks. It is one of 12 bibliographies on aging prepared by the National Agricultural Library for its "Pathfinders" series of publications. Topics covered by the other 11 bibliographies include aging parents, adult children, dementia and Alzheimer's disease in the elderly (written for educators), dementia and Alzheimer's disease in the elderly (written for consumers), family...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Aging (Individuals), Family Relationship, Frail Elderly, Older Adults, Social...
This document is the transcript of a symposium that presented information to persons employed or anticipating employment in the human services field in order to assist them in providing support for survivors attempting to cope with the death of a special person. The symposium included the following topics: models of responses to bereavement (those of Elizabeth Kubler-Ross and John Schneider), suggestions for friends and employers, suggestions for survivors, and the helping professional's role....
Topics: ERIC Archive, Bereavement, Death, Emotional Response, Human Services, Psychological Patterns,...
Experience has shown repeatedly that many members of the "recovering community" are very interested and committed to helping to prevent others from developing alcohol or other drug problems or in helping those who currently have these problems. However, it is often not evident how members of the "recovering community" can be most helpful on campus and work cooperatively with others interested in reducing alcohol and other drug problems. A program "Recovering Person's...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Alcohol Abuse, Alcoholism, College Students, Higher Education, Prevention,...
Although it has been estimated that over three-fourths of all older adults have living siblings, little information is available on the actual and potential supportive role siblings play for older persons. The sibling relationship has several unique and interesting characteristics and the intimate experiences of childhood may either bind or separate siblings. Siblings usually separate geographically and psychologically as they grow up, yet adults report strong feelings of closeness towards...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Aging (Individuals), Family Relationship, Individual Needs, Interpersonal...
This booklet is designed to encourage and assist parents in locating or starting a parent support group. It provides guidelines and suggestions for group formation and can serve as a resource guide for parent support groups. The eight sections of the booklet address the following topics: (1) the role of parent support groups; (2) definitions of a support group; (3) preliminary planning before starting a group; (4) getting started; (5) setting up the group; (6) the first meeting; (7) future...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Group Discussion, Group Dynamics, Parent Associations, Parent Participation, Parents,...
This publication aims to help families better access services for their disabled children and organize their records for maximum efficiency. The suggestions are designed to help families develop personalized local directories of services for their individualized needs. The four chapters have the following titles: "Guide to Parent Groups,""Guide to Community Services,""Rural Families," and "Record Keeping." (PB)
Topics: ERIC Archive, Access to Information, Community Services, Disabilities, Information Networks,...
This manual provides guidelines and resources for developing a year-long internship program conducted for staff development credit under the joint sponsorship of a college and a school system. The internship carries college credit and is designed for teachers who hold provisional teaching certificates. The first section presents a description of the course with emphasis upon the role of the support team. Topics covered are: (1) eligibility criteria; (2) role of the support team (mentor teacher,...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Elementary Secondary Education, Internship Programs, Program Development, Program...
For more than a quarter of a century, both human service agencies and religious organizations have provided for the needs of the elderly. In order to study the relationship between these groups, clergy from mainline Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish churches and synagogues (N=34) and social service agency administrators in a midwestern suburb were interviewed. Examination of the data gathered in the interviews indicated that services provided by churches and synagogues fall into four basic...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Church Programs, Church Role, Community Services, Gerontology, Older Adults, Social...
An ally is an individual who speaks out and stands up for a person or group that is targeted and/or discriminated against. An ally works to end oppression by supporting and advocating for people who are stigmatized, or treated unfairly because of who they are. In this context, Allies are referred to as people who do not identify as LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) students, but support this community by standing up against the bullying and harassment LGBT youth face in school....
Topics: ERIC Archive, Bullying, Homosexuality, Social Bias, School Activities, Social Support Groups,...
This guide, in Spanish, notes the value of parent groups for parents of children with disabilities, as they offer parents a place and a means to share information, give and receive emotional support, and work as a team to address common concerns. Typical activities of a parent group are listed, and ways of identifying parent groups that exist nationally and locally are noted. Criteria are outlined for deciding which group or groups would be useful to join, and suggestions are offered for...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Disabilities, Information Services, Meetings, Parent Associations, Parent...
Research has indicated that some Type A individuals lack social support networks; this study was designed to determine whether an alienating aspect of Type A behavior pattern (TABP) is evident in grade school children. As part of the study, two commonly used TABP scales for children, the Matthews Youth Test for Health (MYTH) Scale and the Hunter Wolf A-B Rating Scale (ABRS), were evaluated in an effort to determine which scale best predicted students' social competence. Social competence was...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Elementary Education, Elementary School Students, Interpersonal Competence, Predictor...
Recognition of the importance of families in providing care to older persons has led to advocacy for a variety of supports to assist them. This study was conducted to describe caregivers' perceptions of the helpfulness of cash assistance and to identify factors associated with perceived helpfulness. Subjects were co-resident caregivers (N=155) whose disabled family member was a non-institutionalized veteran aged 65 or over who was a beneficiary of the Veterans' Administration Aid &...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Disabilities, Family Caregivers, Federal Aid, Financial Support, Older Adults, Social...
This guide notes the value of parent groups for parents of children with disabilities, as they offer parents a place and a means to share information, give and receive emotional support, and work as a team to address common concerns. Typical activities of a parent group are listed, and ways of identifying parent groups that exist nationally and locally are noted. Criteria are outlined for deciding which group or groups would be useful to join, and suggestions are offered for starting a group if...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Disabilities, Information Services, Meetings, Parent Associations, Parent...
Felner's transitional events model, which views post-divorce adjustment as a function of the environmental stressors a child faces and the interpersonal and intrapersonal resources available to the child, was used as an underlying framework for the development of a parent training program for divorced families. Five modifiable factors found to be significantly associated with children's post-divorce adjustment were identified: (1) quality of the custodial parent-child relationship; (2)...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Adjustment (to Environment), Discipline, Divorce, Mothers, Parent Child Relationship,...
Social gerontological studies have found little relation between family availability and interaction and well-being of the elderly. Friendship and neighboring interactions seem more consistently related to well-being, but even this is not universal. This study, conducted to examine whether similar patterns exist in other age groups, included young adults, early middle-aged adults, late middle-aged adults, and older adults to compare the effects of social support on well-being in different...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Adults, Age Differences, Family Relationship, Friendship, Neighborhoods, Social...
A soldier's occupation is a very stressful one, especially for junior enlisted soldiers who have little control over their highly-regimented work lives. This prospective study examined the relationship between soldier occupational stress and health and well-being 8 to 10 months later. Through an ongoing, longitudinal study of attitudes, health, and cohesion in Army units, extensive survey data were collected on lower enlisted soldiers. The 2,288 respondents with complete data on relevant...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Enlisted Personnel, Health, Military Personnel, Social Support Groups, Stress...
Interpersonal relationships can be nonsupportive as well as supportive. A study was conducted to investigate the negative aspects of social relations which parallel two positive components of social relations, esteem support and affirmative support. If social support represents the positive aspects of interpersonal relationships, social conflict represents the negative. Social support and social conflict were measured in relation to stress in 675 outpatient pharmacy users, about one-half of...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Adults, Conflict, Drug Use, Interpersonal Relationship, Social Networks, Social...
This report presents the results of a survey questionnaire of beginning teachers who started duty in Queensland preschools or kindergartens in 1987. A brief summary is given of the literature on induction and beginning teachers, and a description provided of the organization of early childhood education in Queensland. At the beginning of the year, the areas in which the largest proportion of first-year teachers expressed confidence were interacting with children, communicating with parents, and...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Beginning Teachers, Foreign Countries, Preschool Education, Primary Education, Social...
The directory lists mutual support groups concerned with the medical and psychosocial impacts of genetic disorders and birth defects on affected individuals and families. Each organization included is dedicated to the ongoing emotional, practical, and financial needs of these populations. Entries are categorized by disorder, including: general, auditory, cancer, cardiovascular, chromosomal, connective tissue, craniofacial, developmental, gastrointestinal, hematologic, immunologic, kidney,...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Congenital Impairments, Disabilities, Genetics, Information Sources, Organizations...
Counseling psychology has neglected elderly adults. Developmental transitions from gainful employment to retirement or from active parenthood to former parenthood can be difficult. For older adults, religion can be a useful means for organizing the self-concept and developing a context of meaning for one's life in an effective way. Religion can contribute a framework for understanding one's life pattern and present situation. Religion entails a set of goals toward which the elderly person can...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Aging (Individuals), Coping, Counseling Theories, Older Adults, Religion, Self...
In this article, Connie Stevens describes her life as a mother to a child with Down Syndrome who at seven months of age was diagnosed with profound hearing loss. At the time there was not much support for families like hers; however a movement was developing. With the help of dedicated professionals and Wisconsin mothers and fathers, a wide and diverse support system blossomed. Stevens now works for the state, dividing her time between two agencies that have collaboratively created a Hands...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Deafness, Down Syndrome, Intervention, Public Agencies, Screening Tests,...
This exploratory study examines the relationship of adolescent students' connectedness to school and aspects of their school environment to a teacher-reported mathematics proficiency score using hierarchical linear modeling. School connectedness for this study, is defined as an adolescents' experience of being cared about at school and sense of closeness to school personnel and context. Preliminary results indicated that teacher-reported mathematics proficiency among middle level students is...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Mathematics Education, Middle Schools, Perception, Social Support Groups, Student...
The Employability Support Network of Disabled Youth is a 3-year model program housed at the Child Development and Rehabilitation Center of the Oregon Health Sciences University (Portland). The network is designed to set up support groups featuring as a role model a person with a disability. Specifically, the model sets up a project which (1) creates an advisory council to identify priorities, make community contacts and advise staff; (2) adapts and develops material and curricula; (3) trains...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Disabilities, Employment Potential, Group Discussion, Program Descriptions, Role...
Five articles address issues in family support systems for persons with disabilities. Peter Mittler, Hellie Mittler and Helen McConachie present a set of general principles designed to encourage the development of genuine partnerships between professionals and parents in "Working Together: Guidelines for Partnership between Professionals and Parents of Children and Young People with Disabilities." In "Cultural and Ethnic Aspects of Family Support Services for Parents of a Child...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Cultural Influences, Delivery Systems, Disabilities, Family Influence, Foreign...
Research on job demands and worker health has demonstrated that physicians report the highest workloads, greatest responsibility for people, and the highest levels of job complexity. There is increasing evidence that emotional distress is an occupational hazard for physicians. Measures exploring the relationships between occupational stress, social support, locus of control, and depression were administered to a group of 210 family physicians. The results indicated that occupational stress...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Depression (Psychology), Family Influence, Locus of Control, Peer Relationship,...
This handbook attempts to answer questions about informal caregiving and caregivers, focusing on the rural elderly. The first section presents a national perspective on caregiving. Recipients of caregiving, providers of caregiving, the caregiving dilemma, and psychological, physical, family, and financial issues are discussed. The second section focuses on the rural factor. The third section discusses services used by caregivers, including home maintenance, homemaking, transportation, nursing...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Caregivers, Family Caregivers, Family Role, Frail Elderly, Research Needs, Rural...
This guide is designed to help readers understand loss and grief, and to sensitively respond to the grief of others. Although emphasis is on losses experienced in later life, most information is equally applicable to grief throughout adulthood. A section on understanding loss in later life lists a number of losses that are associated with aging. The grief process is explained in the next section, followed by a section on accepting the reality of the loss. A section on experiencing the pain...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Aging (Individuals), Anger, Coping, Death, Emotional Adjustment, Grief, Guilt,...