This paper explores how personal experience acquires the status of knowledge and/or evidence in contemporary healthcare contexts that emphasise being both patient-centred and evidence-based. Drawing on a comparative analysis of three case studies -- self-help and mutual aid groups; online patient activism; and patient feedback in healthcare…

Policymakers have invested significant resources in financial education to improve financial literacy of the poor, reduce bad financial decision-making, and increase take-up of financial services and products. Yet, there is limited evidence on the effectiveness of such interventions, especially in developing countries. This paper provides evidence…

Along with positive developments in psychology, the self-help movement is becoming widespread, based on the belief that people are capable of growing and achieving positive change with only minimal help. This article addresses the potential of a solution-focused self-help tool to improve university students' well-being by comparing its outcome to…

Background: This study evaluated a school-based obesity intervention for elementary school children (N = 835) where health professionals assisted teachers with the integration of healthy messages into the school curriculum. Methods: Schools were randomized into a professional-facilitated intervention (PFI; N = 4) or a self-help (SH; N = 3)…

Several randomised controlled studies have shown the efficacy of Internet-based self-help treatments. These studies have centred their attention on axis I (efficacy) of the Guidelines for Empirically Validated Treatments, although there are a few studies that also take into account axis II (effectiveness). The aim of the present work was to test…

Objective: Coping strategies of men who were sexually abused in childhood were examined to ascertain their relationship to clinical diagnoses. Time elapsed since the abuse occurred was examined for its relationship to psychological functioning. Clinical psychopathology of this primary sample of sexually abused men was compared to a community…

Compared progressive relaxation training (PRT), self-induced relaxation training (SRT), and a control condition on measures of tonic physiological arousal and phasic physiological and subjective reactions to fearful stimuli. Concluded that live PRT is the treatment of choice for reducing tonic physiological arousal and attenuating subjective…

Both urine alarms and dry bed training (DBT) have been used in the treatment of enuresis. To investigate the acceptability of the most recent version of DBT and urine alarm training, two studies were conducted. In the first study, the evaluation of 42 parents, who had participated in an 8-week program of either DBT or urine alarm training, were…

Studies the possibility of developing systematic dilemma counseling into an autonomous mode. Experimental comparisons explore the pervasive situation in which a client successfully concludes a treatment program, only to find some subsequent problem developing in postcounseling life. (Author)

Evaluated two self-help behavior therapy books for stopping smoking against a minimal treatment program. Results indicated under self-administered conditions, the minimal treatment program was as effective as the behavior therapy books. On the self-report measures, therapist contact was associated with improved treatment outcome for the behavior…

The incidence and extent of irrational beliefs in the obese were investigated as well as subsequent changes in such beliefs as a result of participation in a self-monitored weight control program. Subjects were 53 females who were a minimum of 10 pounds and an average of 32 pounds overweight. The obese sample was administered the Irrational…

Members of two types of self-help groups assessed the occurence of various helping processes in their groups. Found self-help groups emphasized supportive and expressive processes while avoiding confrontive processes; and behavioral techniques were used more frequently by behavioral control groups than by stress coping groups. (RC)

Several treatment approaches to cigarette smoking were investigated, including a nicotine fading procedure in which subjects changed their cigarette brand each week to one containing progressively less nicotine and tar; a self-monitoring procedure in which subjects plotted their daily intake of nicotine and tar; a combined nicotine…