How helpful are selfhelp Web resources

1
How helpful are self-help Web resources? G. Peggy
McFall, Department of Psychology, University of
Alberta
Abstract The use of on-line self-help Web sites
is an important addition for the treatment of
many disorders. Because of the increasing number
of these sites we wanted to know if the sites are
being used as effectively as possible. We asked
which kind of resource is the most helpful and if
this helpfulness changes for different disorders.
We found that there is a significant effect
between Web site resources but no effect between
disorders.

• Why do the research?
• Research has shown that self-help groups are
  effective.
• The benefit of self-help Web resources is that
  they are always available when people need them
  most.
• There is also a proliferation of self-help Web
  resources becoming available on the Web.
• While there are several benefits to on-line
  support, there are also some risks
• People might not seek professional help when
  necessary because of on-line support
• People may receive misleading information
• The risk of identity theft and other security
  issues.
• Research is required to assess if self-help Web
  resources are beneficial and if they are being
  used to their full potential.

Mark (Depression), Jamie (Eating Disorder),
Marcia (Alcohol Dependency)

• What are the research questions?
• Are some self-help resources more helpful than
  others?
• Are some self-help resources more helpful for
  some disorders than others?

Jamie is obsessed with her weight and her parents
are becoming increasingly more concerned about
her eating behaviour. She has been dieting for
the past two years, after being chided by her
family and friends for being pudgy. She sets
weight goals and as she reaches them, she sets
new ones. When Jamie is asked about her food
intake she often lists foods that she has flushed
down the toilet. Jamie says that there were
occasions over the past few years when she has
been fairly down but she still feels driven to
diet. She is 5'2 tall and weights 88 lbs. She
estimates she is eating around 500 calories per
day.

• What does this mean?
• There was a significant effect between the eight
  types of self-help Web resources
• One surprising result was that bulletin boards
  were rated the lowest
• It seems when looking at self-help Web sites that
  bulletin boards are used most frequently. The
  question is Do lay persons think bulletin boards
  would not be effective, while persons using
  self-help Web sites find them helpful. OR Are
  self-help Web sites making bulletin boards more
  readily available so that people are forced to
  use them to get on-line support.

• How are we going to find the answers?
• Undergraduate psychology students (N120)
  fulfilling course requirements took part in this
  study.
• Three scenarios (Figure 1) and a 25 item online
  questionnaire was developed. The questionnaire
  asked about different self-help Web resources in
  regard to the scenario such as
• How helpful do you think an on-line self-help
  bulletin board would be?
• Do you think your person would use an on-line
  self-help bulletin board?
• One of the three scenarios was randomly assigned
  to each participant, the scenario was read and
  participants completed the questionnaire.

• What did we find?
• no significant differences was found between the
  three disorders for any of our questions

• Acknowledgements
• Connie Varnhagen for her continual encouragement
  and guidance
• The Instructional Technology Lab for all of their
  input and practical help