P-40 Selvhjelpsgrupper − styrking av emosjonell og relasjonell kapital

Self-help groups are communities for individuals' to work on their selves. By strengthening emotional and relational competence, groups can improve quality of life and the ability to cope.

Background: Recent decades have seen a flourishing of various types of conversation-based self-help/mutual aid groups. Apart from the traditional self-help organisation Alcoholics Anonymous, group types are little studied. There are very few studies that deal with interaction processes in groups over time and what it takes for groups to succeed. In Norway, ‘neutral’ or ‘mixed’ groups have evolved that are not linked to a specific problem or diagnosis, in which people come together across what kind of life problem they are struggling with. This is quite unique internationally. By comparing processes in such groups, knowledge is provided about the work of self- help groups that is also useful in understanding other types of conversation-based groups in which people seek to deal with their problems in concert with others.

Methods: The PhD study is based on long-term field- work in groups of 4–10 participants as well as fieldwork and interviews of employees and volunteers in the self- help field. Data were collected from observation of six groups, four of which were followed for 2–3 to 12 months. Participants were interviewed about their experiences with group practice. The groups were initiated by a local self-help centre in Oslo (LINK Oslo) and patient education resource centers (LMS) in Vestfold county, operating however independently and without formal leadership.

Results: Participants in well-functioning groups go through a process in which they, through the group’s exchange of narrative and authentic feelings and reactions, find more appropriate ways to deal with them- selves, their relationships, and their life situation. For the group to function over time, participants must achieve balanced reciprocity based on equality and the absence of hierarchical relationships. At the same time, interaction must lead to transformation, both in the participants’ experience of themselves and their life situation, and in the group’s mode of transactions. Transactions are characterised by the social exchange of narratives and oral reactions, by both ‘sharing’ and ‘gift exchange’ in which participants learn to exchange personal experiences and give each other feedback in certain ways that promote both individual and collective transformation. This presupposes that the group achieves a dynamic in which participants balance between building trust and at the same time taking risks by making themselves sufficiently vulnerable to each other.

Conclusions: Self-help groups are arenas for individual self-work in a community. Through the exchange of experiences, the participants learn to give and receive emotional reactions and find appropriate ways of dealing with themselves and their life situations. Groups can thus improve quality of life and the ability to cope.