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Self‐help groups at the turning point: Emerging egalitarian alliances with the formal health care system?
Author(s) -
Borkman Thomasina
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
american journal of community psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.113
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1573-2770
pISSN - 0091-0562
DOI - 10.1007/bf00931307
Subject(s) - bureaucracy , health psychology , autonomy , health care , public relations , experiential knowledge , sociology , political science , psychology , politics , public health , nursing , medicine , law , philosophy , epistemology
Review of the historical development and current status of mutual aid self-help groups (SHGs) in the U.S. The SHGs social movements received an impetus from the 1987 Surgeon General's Workshop. Some alliances forming to link SHGs with the health care system are described. The Workshop recommended principles to guide these alliances. What direction will linkages actually take? Professional or bureaucratic cooptation and control of SHGs? Professionals can take a stand to respect SHG autonomy and self-determination. Professionals need training about SHGs. Research is needed on usefulness of experiential knowledge created and disseminated in SHGs and their social movement aspects.