How Does Insightful and Emotional Disclosure Bring Potential Health Benefits? Study Based on Online Support Groups for Women With Breast Cancer

Journal of Communication

Volumn 61, Issue 3, 2011, Pages 432-454

  Shim, Minsun ^a   Cappella, Joseph N ^b   Han, Jeong Yeob ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CANCER; HEALTH IMPACT; MODELING; SOCIAL BEHAVIOR; WOMENS HEALTH;

EID: 79957921712     PISSN: 00219916     EISSN: 14602466     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1460-2466.2011.01555.x     Document Type: Article

References (55)

1. Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: Freeman.
2. Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1173-1182.
3. Berg, J. H., & Archer, R. L. (1980). Disclosure or concern: A second look at liking for the norm-breaker. Journal of Personality, 48, 245-257.
4. Brady, M., Cella, D., Mo, F., Bonomi, A., Tulsky, D., Lloyd, S., et al. (1997). Reliability and validity of the functional assessment of cancer therapy-breast quality-of-life instrument. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 15, 974-986.
5. Cella, D. F., Tulsky, D. S., & Gray, G. (1993). The functional assessment of cancer therapy scale: Development and validation of the general measure. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 11, 570-579.
6. Cohen, J., Cohen, P., West, S. G., & Aiken, L. S. (2002). Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the behavioral sciences (3rd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
7. Creamer, M., Burgess, P., & Pattison, P. (1992). Reactions to trauma: A cognitive processing model. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 101, 452-459.
8. Creswell, J. D., Lam, S., Stanton, A. L., Taylor, S. E., Bower, J. E., & Sherman, D. K. (2007). Does self-affirmation, cognitive processing, or discovery of meaning explain cancer-related health benefits of expressive writing? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 33, 238-250.
9. Davison, K. P., & Pennebaker, J. W. (1997). Virtual narratives: Illness representation in online support groups. In K. J. Pertie & J. A. Weinman (Eds.), Perceptions of health and illness: Current research and applications (pp. 463-486). Amsterdam: Overseas Publishers Association.
10. Davison, K. P., Pennebaker, J. W., & Dickerson, S. S. (2000). Who talks? The social psychology of illness support groups. American Psychologist, 55, 205-217.
11. Derlega, V. J., Metts, S., Petronio, S., & Margulis, S. T. (1993). Self-disclosure. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
12. Foa, E. B., & Kozak, M. (1986). Emotional processing of fear: Exposure to corrective information. Psychological Bulletin, 99, 20-35.
13. Fogel, J., Albert, S. M., Schnabel, F., Ditkoff, B. A., & Neugut, A. I. (2002). Internet use and social support in women with breast cancer. Health Psychology, 21, 398-404.
14. Frisina, P. G., Borod, J. C., & Lepore, S. J. (2004). A meta-analysis of the effects of written emotional disclosure on the health outcomes of clinical populations. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 192, 629-634.
15. Ganz, P. A. (2000). Quality of life across the continuum of breast cancer care. Quality of Life Concerns, 6, 324-330.
16. Gustafson, D., McTavish, F., Stengle, W., Ballard, D., Jones, E., Julesberg, K., et al. (2005a). Reducing the digital divide for low-income women with breast cancer: A feasibility study of a population-based intervention. Journal of Health Communication, 10(Supplement 1), 173-193.
17. Gustafson, D., McTavish, F., Stengle, W., Ballard, D., Hawkins, R., Shaw, B., et al. (2005b). Use and impact of eHealth system by low-income women with breast cancer. Journal of Health Communication, 10(Supplement 1), 195-218.
18. Han, J. Y., Hawkins, R., Shaw, B., Pingree, S., McTavish, F., & Gustafson, D (2009). Unraveling uses and effects of an interactive health communication system. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 53, 112-133.
19. Horowitz, M. J. (1986). Stress response syndromes (2nd ed.). Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson.
20. Horowitz, M., Wilner, N. J., & Alvarez, W. (1979). Impact of events scale: A measure of subjective stress. Psychosomatic Medicine, 41, 209-218.
21. Jourard, S. M. (1971). Self-disclosure: An experimental analysis of the transparent self. New York: Wiley-Interscience.
22. King, L. A., & Miner, K. N. (2000). Writing about the perceived benefits of traumatic events: Implications for physical health. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 26, 220-230.
23. Kloss, J. D., & Lisman, S. A. (2002). An exposure-based examination of the effects of written emotional disclosure. British Journal of Social Psychology, 7, 31-46.
24. Lange, A., Schoutrop, M., Schrieken, B., & Van de Ven, J-P. (2002). Interapy: A model for therapeutic writing through the Internet. In S. J. Lepore & J. M. Smyth (Eds)., The writing cure: How expressive writing promotes health and emotional well-being (pp. 215-238). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
25. Lepore, S. J. (1997). Expressive writing moderates the relation between intrusive thoughts and depressive symptoms. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73, 1030-1037.
26. Lepore, S. J. (2001). A social-cognitive processing model of emotional adjustment to cancer. In A. Baum & B. L. Andersen (Eds.), Psychosocial interventions for cancer (pp. 99-116). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
27. Lepore, S. J., & Greenberg, M. A. (2002). Mending broken hearts: Effects of expressive writing on mood, cognitive, processing, social adjustment, and health following a relationship breakup. Psychology and Health, 17, 547-560.
28. Lepore, S. J., Greenberg, M. A., Bruno, M., & Smyth, J. M. (2002). Expressive writing and health: Self-regulation of emotion-related experience, physiology, and behavior. In S. J. Lepore & J. M. Smyth (Eds.), The writing cure: How expressive writing promotes health and emotional well-being (pp. 99-117). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
29. Lepore, S. J., & Smyth, J. M. (2002). The writing cure: An overview. In S. J. Lepore & J. M. Smyth (Eds.), The writing cure: How expressive writing promotes health and emotional well-being (pp. 3-14). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
30. Lieberman, M. A. (2007). The role of insightful disclosure in outcomes for women in peer-directed breast cancer groups: a replication study. Psycho-Oncology, 16, 961-964.
31. Lieberman, M. A., & Goldstein, B. A. (2005). Self-help on-line: An outcome evaluation of breast cancer bulletin boards. Journal of Health Psychology, 10, 855-862.
32. Lieberman, M. A., & Goldstein, B. A. (2006). Not all negative emotions are equal: The role of emotional expression in online support groups for women with breast cancer. Psycho-oncology, 15, 160-168.
33. Owen, J. E., Klapow, J. C., Roth, D. L., Shuster, J. L., Bellis, J., Meredith, R., et al. (2005). Randomized pilot of a self-guided Internet coping group for women with early-stage breast cancer. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 30, 54-64.
34. Owen, J. E., Yarbrough, E. J., Vaga, A., & Tucker, D. (2003). Investigation of the effects of gender and preparation on quality of communication in Internet support groups. Computers in Human Behavior, 19, 259-275.
35. Pennebaker, J. W. (1989). Confession, inhibition, and disease. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 22, 211-244.
36. Pennebaker, J. W. (1997a). Opening up: The healing power of expressing emotions (Revised). New York: Guilford Press.
37. Pennebaker, J. W. (1997b). Writing about emotional experiences as a therapeutic process. Psychological Science, 8, 162-166.
38. Pennebaker, J. W., & Beall, S. (1986). Confronting a traumatic event: Toward an understanding of inhibition and disease. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 95, 274-281.
39. Pennebaker, J. W., Chung, C. K., Ireland, M., Gonzales, A., & Booth, R. (2007). The development and psychometric properties of LIWC2007. Retrieved from
40. Pennebaker, J. W., & Francis, M. E. (1996). Cognitive, emotional, and language processes in disclosure. Cognition and Emotion, 10, 601-626.
41. Pennebaker, J. W., Mayne, T. J., & Francis, M. E. (1997). Linguistic predictors of adaptive bereavement. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72, 863-871.
42. Preacher, K. J., & Hayes, A. F. (2004). SPSS and SAS procedures for estimating indirect effects. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, and Computers, 36, 717-731.
43. Preacher, K. J., & Hayes, A. F. (2008a). Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models. Behavior Research Methods, 40, 879-891.
44. Preacher, K. J., & Hayes, A. F. (2008b). Contemporary approaches to assessing mediation in communication research. In A. F. Hayes, M. D. Slater & L. B. Snyder (Eds.), Advanced data analysis methods for communication research (pp. 13-54). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
45. Rosenberg, H. J., Rosenberg, S. D., Ernstoff, M. S., Wolford, G. L., Amdur, R. J., Elshamy, M. R., et al. (2002). Expressive disclosure and health outcomes in a prostate cancer population. The International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine, 32, 37-53.
46. Shaw, B. R., Han, J. Y., Kim, E., Gustafson, D., Hawkins, R., Cleary, J., et al. (2007). Effects of prayer and religious expression within computer support groups on women with breast cancer. Psycho-Oncology, 16, 676-687.
47. Shaw, B. R., Hawkins, R. P., McTavish, F., Pingree, S., & Gustafson, D. H. (2006). Effects of insightful disclosure within computer mediated support groups on women with breast cancer. Health Communication, 19, 133-142.
48. Sloan, D. M., & Marx, B. P. (2004a). Taking pen to hand: Evaluating theories underlying the written disclosure paradigm. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 11, 121-137.
49. Sloan, D. M., & Marx, B. P. (2004b). A closer examination of the structured written disclosure procedure. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 72, 165-175.
50. Smyth, J. M. (1998). Written emotional expression: Effect sizes, outcome types, and moderating variables. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 66, 174-184.
51. Smyth, J. M., & Pennebaker, J. W. (2001). What are the health effects of disclosure? In A. Baum, T. A. Revenson & J. E. Singer (Eds.), Handbook of health psychology (pp. 339-348). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
52. Smyth, J. M., True, N., & Souto, J. (2001). Effects of writing about traumatic experiences: The necessity for narrative structuring. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 20, 161-172.
53. Sobel, M. E. (1982). Asymptotic confidence intervals for indirect effects in structural equation models. In S. Leinhardt (Ed.), Sociological Methodology (pp. 290-312). Washington DC: American Sociological Association.
54. Spiegel, D. (1997). Psychosocial aspects of breast cancer treatment. Seminars in Oncology, 24, 36-47.
55. Stanton, A. L., Danoff-Burg, S., Sworowski, L. A., Collins, C. A., Branstetter, A. D., Rodriguez-Hanley, A., et al. (2002). Randomized, controlled trial of written emotional expression and benefit finding in breast cancer patients. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 20, 4160-4168.