Effectiveness of Social Support Group Interventions for Psychosocial Outcomes: A Meta-analytic Review

This study investigated the effectiveness of support groups for people living with chronic ill-health conditions. Searches of the published literature were undertaken for the period 1993-2013. Papers were included if participants were between 18 and 65 years old, and study designs were either pre-test post-test one group descriptive, non-randomised group comparison, or randomised controlled trial, with reported data appropriate formeta-analysis and sufficient for estimating effect size(s). Total 19 studies were eligible in the meta-analysis, and 2,986 participants were examined. Six general outcome categories emerged from the data: (1) psychosocial functioning, (2) self-efficacy, (3) quality of life, (4) health status, (5) health behaviours and (6) health care use. In total, 155 effect sizes were calculated from the outcome measures with 15.5% resulting in a large effect size, 6% moderate effects, 39% small effects, and 39.5% producing trivial effects. Themajority of the effect sizes (92%) were in the hypothesised direction. Overall, results demonstrate that self-help and support group interventions can positively influencemanagement of chronic ill-health conditions and contribute to the desired outcome of successful adaptation.