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Abstract

The changing perspectives in mental health care have paved the way
for the emergence and proliferation of self-help groups (SHGs) in the
delivery of mental health care. Studies of the efficacy of such groups have
been limited and have led to conflicting results. The present preliminary
investigation focused upon Grow, a prominent self-help organization. The
project aimed to describe the demographic, personal and psychiatric
characteristics of Grow attenders, and to investigate possible changes in
symptomatology and social network as a function of time and attendance.
The subjects were 62 Grow attenders who were representative of
the state population of Grow members. The General Health Questionnaire
(Goldberg, 1967), the Social Environment Questionnaire (Winefield, 1979),
the Personality and Social Network Adjustment Scale (Clark, 1968) and a
number of visual analogue scales related to issues such as perceived
efficacy of Grow were administered weekly over a six week period.
General findings indicated Grow attenders to be predominantly
female, 40 to 60 years old, married and from the middle occupational
status group. Attendance at Grow tended to be irregular and the most
common reason for attendance was to seek help for emotional problems.
From a community mental health perspective most had sought help before
joining Grow and many were still receiving psychiatric assistance.
Previous and current help received from outside Grow tended to be viewed
as inadequate. Over the period of study there was an improvement in
psychological/psychiatric adjustment of Grow members but no significant
change in social support networks. Only those who attended Grow
regularly evidenced an improvement in social support. The need for caution
when discussing causality was stressed.
A number of methodological and logistical problems were identified
and more complex evaluation research designs were described for future
consideration.

Item Type:	Thesis - Coursework Master
Authors/Creators:	Paz, Josefina Medrano de la
Keywords:	GROW (Organization : Australia), Self-help groups, Mentally ill
Copyright Holders:	The Author
Copyright Information:	Copyright the Author - The University is continuing to endeavour to trace the copyright owner(s) and in the meantime this item has been reproduced here in good faith. We would be pleased to hear from the copyright owner(s).
Additional Information:	Thesis (M. Psych.)--University of Tasmania, 1989. Bibliography: leaves 62-74.
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