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…

Describes the development, nature, and potential contributions of refugee community organizations in the resettlement of Indochinese refugees. (Author/GC)

Pleasant imagery relieves pain and may account for much of the effectiveness of stress inoculation training. Women who used imagery controlled their pain better; women who did not use imagery had longer tolerance when they heard pain conceptualized as a multistage process. Self-instruction did not affect pain control. (Author)

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)

Parent study groups have the potential to reach a large segment of the parent population. These self-help groups do not require a substantial number of professionals to provide help for parents. Parents quickly accept study groups because they can readily see the results of their efforts with their children. (Author)

The author presents several suggestions for the organization of self-help groups for parents of developmentally disabled children. Guidelines stress that parents are the most important advocates their children will ever have and that parents must often meet to share information among themselves. (SBH)

Discusses the lyceum, originally designed primarily to give local citizens an opportunity to speak, debate and discuss, and notes Josiah Holbrook's contributions to the lyceum movement considered to be one of the most comprehensive and far-reaching movements in America from 1830 to 1850. (MH)

A community water supply project in Cameroon illustrates the following constraints on community participation in development: paternalistic authorities, prescriptive role of the state, selective participation, bias toward "hard" issues, inattention to negative results, group conflicts, gatekeeping, pressure for immediate results,…

Describes a self-help information and referral center for college students that provides pamphlets, files, books, audiocassettes, videotapes, and computer programs on more than 100 topics related to health, personal growth, and academic skills. Discusses development of the center, its current status, and its future. (Author/ABL)

Describes the self-help movement in Britain among parents and relatives of children in public care and considers the achievements, problems, and hopes of local groups. (RJC)

Describes peer support program for women in prison for the death of a child. Explains how group has helped participants reduce their isolation, mourn their loss, identify their responsibility in the death, and change destructive patterns of feelings and behavior. Follow-up of women who have been paroled is discussed which indicated their positive…

Examined applicability of Bednar, Melnick, and Kaul's model of early group development to college student self-help groups using undergraduates (N=101) who met in high-structure or low-structure groups. Found amount of group structure was positively related to ownership of group functioning; importance of performing group behaviors was positively…

Tests whether trainers using the book "Coping with Speech Anxiety" as a resource would be able to construct workshops as effective in reducing public speaking anxiety as people trained to conduct systematic desensitization workshops. Indicates that both workshops were more effective in reducing public speaking apprehension than control conditions…

Discusses Tennessee's Highlander Folk School. Reports that the school helped organize labor unions and played a role in the civil rights movement of the 1950s. Explains that Highlander sought to bring about southern integration. Argues that successful civic education draws out the experiences and interests of participants and nurtures respect and…

Comparison of nineteenth- and twentieth-century promotion of self-help learning shows that the aim and outcome can be socialization and order rather than social advancement and autonomy. Successful self-help schemes are rarely based on self-help alone, which calls into question the morality and financial wisdom of promoting a concept without…