Learning as an empowerment process in breast cancer self-help groups

This intervention study aimed to promote and examine empowerment processes in women recovering from breast cancer and participating in self-help groups.

Feelings of powerlessness may follow from being diagnosed and treated for breast cancer. In theory, self-help groups may stimulate empowerment, which stands in contrast to powerlessness, by increasing the participants' sense of control. Professional assistance may contribute positively, by assuring that the issue of empowerment is addressed.

The study had an intervention design based on the ideas of empowerment and self-help. Three professionally led self-help groups were established. The groups ran sequentially and met weekly for approximately four months.

Eighteen women in groups of 5-7 participated in self-help group discussions and also in focus group interviews, which provided the main study data. Each group was interviewed three times. Observation data provided a basis for comprehension of the groups' culture, relationships and processes.

Learning appeared as one of three salient components in empowerment processes in the self-help groups. This learning component consists of four elements: consciousness-raising, acquisition of objective knowledge, learning from others' experiences and discovery of new perspectives in life and in oneself.

The study shows that self-help groups focusing on empowerment issues made a valuable contribution to recovery and are strongly recommended by the participants.

This study suggests that best practice, for those who manage self-help programmes of all types, may be to arrange for empowerment to be an explicit aspect of the intervention, guided by professionals with training in group facilitation and knowledgeable about the facilitation of empowerment in particular.