Participation in teleconference support groups: application to drug-using pregnant patients.
This paper describes our experience using telephone conference calls to conduct support groups for chemically-dependent women. Forty-seven women agreed to participate in regular, weekly support groups that were conducted by two chemical dependency counselors. Counselors attempted to conduct 59 support groups via a telephone conferencing system. Our data indicated that attendance at these sessions was poor. Seventeen sessions had no participants. No group sessions were attended by 4 or more women, and only 3 sessions (7.1%) included 3 participants. Very few clients made regular use of the support groups. Only 4 clients (8.5%) participated in more than 3 group sessions. Our findings suggest that teleconferencing may not be the most effective method for providing support services to chemically-dependent women.
Alemi
F
F
Health Administration Program, Cleveland University, OH 44115, USA.
Jackson
M
M
Parren
T
T
Williams
L
L
Cavor
B
B
Llorens
S
S
Mosavel
M
M
D005260:Female; D006788:Hospitals, Voluntary; D006801:Humans; D009820:Ohio; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000523:psychology*; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012657:Self-Help Groups / Q000458:organization & administration*; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D013685:Telecommunications / Q000458:organization & administration*