title: Self-help groups viewed by mental health professionals: a survey and comments.
abstract: This paper presents a summary of a national survey of the utilization and evaluation of self-help groups by outpatient mental health facilities making and receiving referrals from self-help groups. Evaluations of self-help groups' effectiveness tended to be favorable, and respondents generally believed that they could play an important role in a mental health delivery system. Only 30.7%, however, believed that the probability was high that their agencies would be interested in exploring how their activities might be integrated with those of self-help groups.
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D012380:Role; D012657:Self-Help Groups; D014481:United States