The Measurement of Change in a Self-Help Context

298 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1990.Self-help groups are addressing the mental health needs of millions of people throughout the world, and are now being considered an important social phenomenon. However, little is known about the variety of changes experienced by individuals who participate. While there have been some attempts at outcome studies, it is likely that not all who participate change in the same ways. The primary purpose of this study was to answer two questions. First, what are the patterns of individual change experienced by members of a self-help organization for people with a history of mental illness? Within this model change is measured in three domains: intrapsychic, interpersonal, and community adjustment. Second, what group processes are related to these patterns of change? A secondary goal was to develop a model of change assessment that would guide other evaluations of self-help groups or organizations. Change scores calculated over the first ten months after joining the organization were obtained for the three domains. Using cluster analysis, members were assigned to one of three change clusters: positive, stable, or negative change. These identified change patterns were then found to be related to attendance, variables of particular relevance to the self-help organization, and group ecological characteristics.U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD