Mid Sweden University

I artikeln redovisas en genomförd kartläggning av självhjälpsgrupper i Sverige för personer med smärta. Kartläggningen visar att självhjälpsgrupper finns inom ett brett spektrum av huvudmän, samt att om verksamheten sker inom det offentliga sammanhanget har den en högre grad av professionellt ledarskap, fler könsblandade grupper samt att ordet smärta mer sällan uttalas i gruppernas namn, vilket vi menar kan ses som en icke-legitimering av smärta som sjukdomsorsak. Sker verksamheten inom frivilliga organisationer och/eller studieförbund finns en högre andel självstyrda grupper och grupper med cirkelledare, grupperna uppges oftare bestå av enbart kvinnor samt att gruppernas namn anger mer tydligt att de inriktar sig på smärta. Slående är den överrepresentation av kvinnor som finns inom självhjälpsgrupper för personer med smärta, oavsett huvudman.

Studies in Sweden, USA and Australia shows that at least a fourth of the population suffers from chronic muscular pain. Studies also shows that there are to a great extent women that suffer from this complaint. Women with chronic muscular pain are experiencing difficulties getting acknowledgement and legitimacy for their sickness and are having problems getting adequate care. Therefore it is interesting to see what importance participation in SHGs can have for this particular group. Self-Help Groups (SHGs) for mutual support have become an appreciated alternative in different fields for treatment and caring in many countries. The problems, that SHGs deal with are often related to the individual�s social situation, and the participation in SHGs seems to be more advantageous to people with chronic rather than acute diseases. The decision to participate in a SHG is generally made at an individual level, and the reason for participation seems to be various. This paper is a review in the area of research on SHGs. SHGs for women with chronic muscular pain are especially relevant to study, since they combine dealing with chronic diseases with a possibility to apply a gender perspective. For that reason it is interesting to start with the limitations and possibilities with SHGs in relation to women with chronic muscular pain. Glaser has e.g., presented a special reason for women to join female groups, namely that they felt more convenient to work exclusively with other women. It has also been said that female groups are important for women�s individual and identity development within a patriarchal context.

It is the aim of this review to provide a survey of research on Self-Help Groups (SHGs) in health care with a special focus on SHGs for women with chronic muscular pain. The aim is not only to describe this field of research, but also to consider how this research relates to gender research as such. A variety of themes are examined: history, external factors that influence SHGs, internal aspects of SHGs, and gender research on SHGs. It was found that the gender perspective was relatively neglected. Our suggestion for further research notes that group members can produce new ways to manage their lives with the help of the interaction/exchange in the SHGs, regarding gender construction, knowledge, legitimacy and adaptation or transformation, and the position of activities in SHGs among societal norms and attitudes.

Analys av ett förhand givet material, och skapandet av en miniteori genom användandet av NUD*IST samt därefter reflektioner av för- respektive nackdelar med detta tillvägagångssätt.