Intervention to enhance empowerment in breast cancer self-help groups.

As arduous psychological reactions and loss of control almost inevitably represent a challenge for women diagnosed and treated for breast cancer, a participatory intervention study was initiated that aimed to enhance empowerment in breast cancer self-help groups. Women newly diagnosed with breast cancer were invited to participate. The intervention encompassed three professionally led self-help groups running sequentially, each group for approximately 4 months.

Size-specific interaction patterns and size matching in a plant-pollinator interaction web.

Background And Aims: Many recent studies show that plant-pollinator interaction webs exhibit consistent structural features such as long-tailed distributions of the degree of generalization, nestedness of interactions and asymmetric interaction dependencies. Recognition of these shared features has led to a variety of mechanistic attempts at explanation. Here it is hypothesized that beside size thresholds and species abundances, the frequency distribution of sizes (nectar depths and proboscis lengths) will play a key role in determining observed interaction patterns.

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

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

Background: 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.