Describes Comunidades Eclesial de Base (CEBs) or base communities which are self-help and mutual aid groups that assist in alleviating the effects of poverty and powerlessness in Latin America. Discusses two potential problems of CEBs - that they may encourage either passivity or increased violence. (Author/NB)

Notes that today, a gynecological self help group tries to make easily understood information about womens' bodies, bodily processes, and related health care available to all women. (Author/AM)

If you experience troubling emotional or psychological symptomslike depression, bipolar disorder or manic depression, schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, dissociative disorder, post traumatic stress disorder, an eating disorder, or an anxiety disorderyou may be looking for some information and support on…

Notes growth in number of self-help groups/agencies for mental health clients. Examines self-help perspective in relation to problems with traditional mental health services and need for client-run services. Goal of article is not to endorse self-help perspective but to use it as basis for raising research questions that will further mental health…

Notes that one of the most significant characteristics of mutual aid groups is the fact that they are empowering and thus delineating. They enable members to feel and use their strengths, their own power, to have control over their own lives. (Author/AM)

After consciousness raising, what? Women who want to alter their socialized responses may learn the necessary skills from counselors. Teaching behavioral self-management principles in the context of women's sex role enculturation is a preventive as well as corrective approach to helping women develop increased personal effectiveness. (Author)

Describes a workshop providing tools for self-confrontation and for acquiring self-help methods of making the desired changes in participants' daily lives. Many participants came to the realization that they are not passive victims of life, that they do make choices, and that they shape their lives by those choices. (Author/BEF)

Compared 38 residents in self-help senior residence to 36 in conventional senior residences on Sheltered Care Environment Scale, Self-Esteem Inventory, and Senior Housing Questionnaire. Found that self-help residents scored significantly higher than conventional residents on control, self-esteem, and social involvement. (Author/NB)

Reports on a training package that taught four consumers with physical, learning, or psychiatric disabilities how to write advocacy letters. The research design included baseline and training, and posttraining conditions. Results suggest that an action letter training program may enhance advocacy letter writing skills to address specific problems.…

Reports on the Center for Independent Living (CIL) in Berkeley, California, one of the most remarkable and probably the largest self-help enterprise of disabled people to have surfaced in the past 25 years. (Author/AM)

Explores the concepts of support systems and self help and presents a paradigm for relating the two. (Author)

The paper traces the legislative background and implications of Title VII of P.L. 95-602, the Comprehensive Services for Independent Living Act, intended for those individuals with disabilities sufficiently severe that their employment potential is limited but who may still benefit from vocational rehabilitation services to help them live and…

The behaviorally-based weight control program conducted by Levitz and Jordan at the University of Pennsylvania and the Institute for Behavioral Education is tailored to patient needs and includes stimulus control, cognitive restructuring, and nutrition education. The success of patients in maintaining the clinically meaningful weight losses…

The accomplishments of programs developed and managed by American Indian groups are presented in this document. The philosophy of Federal agencies is discussed in relation to placing with Indian communities the responsibility for administering their own affairs, planning their own programs, and managing their own funds. Special programs offering…

A 5-week, 12-hour course given to the community emphasized understanding and coping with stress. At the beginning of the course several inventories were administered to the students, who also completed the instruments in a follow-up procedure 10-12 weeks after the end of the seminar. The course focused on recognition of stress signals and the…