The development and renovation of worldviews of self-help groups in a medicalised society: A comparative case study of alcoholics and family survivors of suicide

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 23530756
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Social welfare and social work studies
• Research Institution: Sophia University
• Principal Investigator: OKA Tomofumi 上智大学, 総合人間科学部, 教授 (50194329)
• Project Period (FY): 2011-04-28 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 自助集団 / 自死遺族 / 酒害者 / 医療化 / 世界観 / 疑似科学 / 大衆心理学 / 専門職

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of this research was to discuss how self-help groups have developed or renovated their worldviews to help solve their life issues in a medicalised society. A comparative case study of groups for alcoholics and those for family survivors of suicide was conducted. Previous studies have explored the worldviews of both these groups using a dichotomy between professionals’ frameworks and those of peers, and many scholars believed that the worldviews of self-help groups were developed by accumulating experiential knowledge. However, this research has made it clear that the dichotomy does not reflect the reality. The alcoholics’ and survivors’ worldviews have been developed under a complicated combination of influence of three factors: supporting professionals, prevailing pseudo-science and pop-psychology discourses, and persisting indigenous and traditional cultures.

Free Research Field

社会福祉学