title: Adolescents with sickle cell disease: determinants of support group attendance and satisfaction.
abstract: Support groups have the potential to mitigate some of the developmental and condition-specific psychological and social issues common to sickle cell disease (SCD), yet little is known about how adolescents with SCD view and use these groups. As part of a larger study, 79 adolescents with SCD completed questionnaires assessing reasons for attending or not attending support groups, level and type of help received from group participation, group satisfaction, and attendance. This article reports on findings descriptively. Professionals can enhance their effectiveness as providers of social and mental health services by understanding the role that support groups play in the overall well-being of adolescents with SCD.
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, University of Alabama, Birmingham 35294-0022, USA. jtelfair@uab.edu
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Telfair
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Gardner
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000755:Anemia, Sickle Cell / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012657:Self-Help Groups / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012944:Social Support; D012949:Social Work, Psychiatric; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires