IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v31y1990i9p1057-1066.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Expanding theoretical conceptualizations of self-help groups

Author

Listed:
  • Stewart, Miriam J.

Abstract

Self-help groups, a prevalent and significant source of social support, manifest the public- participation premise of primary health care. Yet, self-help studies have typically lacked theoretical grounding. Psychoneuroimmunological and social-learning theories could contribute to the theoretical understanding of self-help groups. As self-help groups can mitigate the impact of natural social-network losses, they could help prevent health disorders via an immunocompetence-maintenance function. Health professionals could consider this possibility in assessment, planning, intervention and evaluation. Furthermore, health professionals could take steps to enhance self-efficacy and collective efficacy, derivative concepts of social-learning theory germane to self-help groups. Therefore, pertinent concepts and creative linkages are proposed in a preliminary attempt to initiate a self-help group theoretical framework for health professionals.

Suggested Citation

  • Stewart, Miriam J., 1990. "Expanding theoretical conceptualizations of self-help groups," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 31(9), pages 1057-1066, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:31:y:1990:i:9:p:1057-1066
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0277-9536(90)90119-D
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:31:y:1990:i:9:p:1057-1066. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.