Abstract

VALENTIM, Olga Sousa; SANTOS, Célia  and  RIBEIRO, José Pais. Self-help groups: the perception of the severity of alcoholism, physical and mental health. Revista Portuguesa de Enfermagem de Saúde Mental [online]. 2017, n.spe5, pp.93-97. ISSN 1647-2160.  https://doi.org/10.19131/rpesm.0174.

Alcoholism is a chronic and progressive disease with clinic conditions that may have predictable deteriorating effects on well-being. Patient’s perception on the severity of the disease may influence treatment adherence and efficacy. Self-help groups are associated with better results during and after treatment. AIM: to describe the relation between perception on alcoholism severity, and the perception of physical and mental health among those patients who attend or not self-help groups. METHODS: this is a descriptive, correlational and cross-sectional study. Both Health Status Questionnaires (SF-36V2) and the "consequences" dimension of the Revised Illness Perception Questionnaire (IPQ-R) were used to evaluate alcoholism severity perception on 444 patients diagnosed for at least one year. An exploratory, descriptive and multiple regression analysis were carried out (stepwise method). RESULTS: there were no significant statistic correlations between alcoholism severity perception and physical health and mental health perception between patients that attend or not self-group. Linear regression shows that, concerning "physical health" the predictor variables explain 10% of the variance, keeping self-help groups in the equation (p<0,03). In "mental health", variables explain 31% of the variance, keeping the following: "age" (p<0,02), "self-help groups" (p<0,03) and "gender" (p<0,05).  Patients attending self-help groups scored more positive values of physical and mental health. CONCLUSION: the perception on alcoholism severity does not explain physical and mental health. However, participation in self-help groups proved to be a predictor of better physical and mental health. We consider nursing intervention is fundamental on what concerns articulation with self-help groups.

Keywords : Self-Help Groups; Alcoholism; Perception; Health.

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