Inflammatory bowel disease support groups: a primer for gastroenterology nurses.

This article discusses the importance of a support group for people living with inflammatory bowel disease. The support group provides these patients and their families with a social framework for promoting positive adjustment to the illness and seeks to improve the patients' quality of life. The use of a support group has been described in the literature as a method of helping patients and their families to face living with chronic illness, but relatively little has been written about support groups for people with inflammatory bowel disease and the role of the gastroenterology nurse. In this article, the benefit of support groups and the content of the intervention are discussed including health education, self-efficiency, coping skills, and ways to increase feelings of social acceptance.