The Initiation of Mutual-Help Groups Within Residential Treatment Settings

Abstract

Mutual- and self-help groups for persons withsevere mental illness have typically been mostaccessible to individuals who live independently. In aneffort to make their organization more accessible to those who live in residential treatmentfacilities, Schizophrenics Anonymous (SA) ranintroductory mutual-help meetings in four group homes.The results of a quantitative/qualitative case study ofthis effort are reported. The SA meetings werecharacterized as more and less successful based on thecriteria of residents' attendance, participation,evaluation of the meetings, and interest in continuedparticipation. The following characteristics distinguishedbetween more and less successful meetings: staffsupport, referent power (i.e., identification with groupleaders), and resident characteristics (e.g., gender, education, marital status, level ofsymptomatology). In spite of behavioral andself-reported evidence of interest and involvement inthe meetings and the potential for continued involvementin the organization, no group home residents continued theirparticipation in SA following the introductory meetings.This finding is interpreted from an institutional theoryperspective that focuses on incompatibility between the ideologies underlying mutual help and theresidential treatment system.