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Do Support Groups Help People with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia? A Comparison of Active and Inactive Members
FRED FRIEDBERG, DEBBIE W. LEUNG, and JOYCE QUICK
ABSTRACT. Methods. Active members (n = 32) and inactive members or dropouts (n = 135) of a regional support organization for people with CFS and FM completed a 26 item questionnaire by telephone interview or by self-completion and postal return. Results. The most frequently endorsed benefits of membership were illness legitimization (67.8%), finding out helpful new information (66.4%), and feeling understood by others (62.2%). Lower frequency endorsements were given to: helped to find (35.0%) or deal with (38.5%) doctors, and helped to improve my illness (36.4%). The most frequently reported reasons for dropping out were inconvenient location (37.8%) or time (37.0%), too much negative talk or complaining (33.3%), too sick to attend (28.8%), and illness or coping improvement (29.6% each). The active-member group showed significantly higher (p < 0.04) symptom severity scores and less illness improvement (p < 0.01) in comparison to the inactive/dropout group. Conclusion. This cross-sectional study suggests that support groups for CFS are viewed as helpful by participants on a number of illness related issues. On the other hand, active members reported greater symptom severity and less illness improvement than inactive members or dropouts. (J Rheumatol 2005;32:2416-20) Key Indexing Terms:
FIBROMYALGIA
From the Department of Psychiatry, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, USA. Supported by NIH grants MH01961-02 and MO1RR10710. F. Friedberg, PhD, Assistant Professor; D. W. Leung, MA, Research Assistant; J. Quick, MS, Physician's Assistant. Address reprint requests to F. Friedberg, Putnam Hall/South Campus, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794-8790. E-mail: fred.friedberg@stonybrook.edu Accepted for publication July 5, 2005. |