Self-help organizations and groups in behavioral medicine: Overview and description

Background: Over the past years self-help organizations have become an esse ntial part of prevention and rehabilitation in German health care. It was t he aim of our enquiry to inform experts and interested persons about the mo st important self-help organizations (SHO) and self-help groups (SHG) of di fferent fields in behavioral medicine. Methods: 70 SHO and SHG of different fields in behavioral medicine were selected dealing with allergy and asthm a, congenital disorders, relatives of patients with psychic disorders, anxi ety disorders, chronic pain disorders, eating disorders, diseases of the mu sculoskeletal system, diseases of the gastrointestinal tract and incontinen ce, skin diseases, hearing and speech disorders, life crises, disorders per taining to the nervous system, personality disorders and psychic problems, abuse, or obsessive-compulsive disorders. The selected SHO and SHG received a structured questionnaire including questions regarding (1) address, (2) means of contact, (3) group of interest, (4) tasks and aims, (5) provision, (6) structure of organizations, and (7) comments. Results: 90% of SHO repl ied, 56 SHO sent back the questionnaire completely answered, 5 institutions sent material of information instead, and 30 included both questionnaire a nd information material. The data clearly show the extensive support SHO mi ght offer to sufferers. Conclusions: This report provides an informative ov erview of SHO. It might help to support the already existing cooperation be tween experts and SHO in this field.