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An exploratory descriptive international study of self-help groups compares self-help groups of parents of children with cancer (U.S.; N = 116) and parents of mentally ill persons (Israel; N = 50). Findings indicate that despite different cultures and focal crises, self-help group participants reported very similar benefits and other commonalities. Differences, likely to be related to the two different national service delivery systems and the two different illness foci, were discerned as well. Comparative international research, while posing methodological problems, offers the potential to greatly expand the understanding of universal vs. culture-specific attributes of self-help groups. Since the 1970s there has been a tremendous expansion of scholarly and practical literature on self-help and mutual aid (e.g., Gartner & Reissman, 1984; Katz & Bender, 1976, 1990; Lieberman & Borman, 1979; Madera, 1986; Surgeon General's Workshop on Self-help and Public Health, 1987). Although self-help itself is not a new phenomenon (Kropotkin, 1902), the number of people and groups actively involved in these social processes has grown considerably during the past several

Despite the growing utilization of self-help groups, there have been only a handful of studies that have examined the factors that contribute to their survival. The purpose of this study was to explore the factors that contribute to self-help group survival by examining their relationship with external sources (i.e., national and local self-help organizations, professionals) and group organizational characteristics (i.e., leadership diversification, recruitment, attendance at group meetings). Representatives from 245 active and 94 recently disbanded self-help groups were included in the analysis. Results indicated that the primary factors that discriminated between active and disbanded groups were the number of new people to attend a meeting, average group meeting attendance, length of existence, leadership diversification, outreach to potential group members, and support from national and local organizations. Results are discussed in terms of what national self-help organizations, self-help clearinghouses, and others who interact with self-help groups can do to empower and support them.

Participatory action research with self-help/mutual aid organizations for psychiatric consumer/survivors is reviewed. We begin by tracing the origins of and defining both participatory action research and self-help/mutual aid. In so doing, the degree of correspondence between the assumptions/values of participatory action research and those of self-help/mutual aid for psychiatric consumer/survivors is examined. We argue that participatory action research and self-help/mutual aid share four values in common: (a) empowerment, (b) supportive relationships, (c) social change, and (d) learning as an ongoing process. Next, selected examples of participatory action research with psychiatric consumer/survivor-controlled self-help/mutual aid organizations which illustrate these shared values are provided. We conclude with recommendations of how the key values can be promoted in both the methodological and substantive aspects of future participatory action research with self-help/mutual aid organizations for psychiatric consumer/survivors.

Review of the historical development and current status of mutual aid self-help groups (SHGs) in the U.S. The SHGs social movements received an impetus from the 1987 Surgeon General's Workshop. Some alliances forming to link SHGs with the health care system are described. The Workshop recommended principles to guide these alliances. What direction will linkages actually take? Professional or bureaucratic cooptation and control of SHGs? Professionals can take a stand to respect SHG autonomy and self-determination. Professionals need training about SHGs. Research is needed on usefulness of experiential knowledge created and disseminated in SHGs and their social movement aspects.

This essay examines dilemmas of professional and nonprofessional helpers in this urban, industrialized society; it generates hypotheses about the sources of these dilemmas and proposes how they can be dealt with constructively. The dilemmas are attributed to conflicts inherent in helping relationships between strangers. These include conflicts within helping roles and between helping roles and work roles. A case is made for counteracting undesirable effects of these conflicts by developing networks of mutual aid among would-be helpers, among users of human services, and between helpers and users. Problems in such networks and ways to cope with them are outlined.

Many clearinghouses have been organized within the last decade to promote mutual aid and to provide referral information about self-help groups to potential members. Few of the assumptions that underpin the operation of these programs have been evaluated, however. This paper presents an evaluation of the Self-Help Information Service, a clearinghouse integrated with a generic information and referral service. The results were generally positive with respect to operator and consumer satisfaction, community responsiveness, and the system's capacity to undertake numerous service and research functions. They also pointed up several changes that might be made to improve the system's impact. It is concluded that a new practice specialty might be developed within a clearinghouse context, and that the clearinghouse concept might serve as one cornerstone of a funding policy that supports the self-help approach.