The Relationship between Group Leaders' Benefit Finding and Their Evaluations of Supportive Functions in Community-based Self-help Groups for Cancer Survivors

The present study discussed the issues of supportive functions in communitybased self-help groups (SHGs) for cancer survivors. Two questionnaires were sent to 265 SHGs for cancer survivors. The purpose of study 1 was to clarify the current situations of activities in these SHGs and collaborations between SHGs and clinical psychologists. The results suggested that only a few SHGs had collaborated with clinical psychologists although most leaders of SHGs expected supports from clinical psychologists. We proposed the bidirectional exchange of information between SHGs and the community of clinical psychologists. In the study 2, we investigated the relations between group leaders' evaluations of supportive functions in their SHGs and the benefit finding in their cancer experiences. The results showed that the psychosocial and social supports from SHGs might be effective to help group leaders to find benefits in their cancer experiences