This article is within the scope of WikiProject Psychology, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of
Psychology on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join
the discussion and see a list of open tasks.PsychologyWikipedia:WikiProject PsychologyTemplate:WikiProject Psychologypsychology articles
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Education, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of
education and
education-related topics on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join
the discussion and see a list of open tasks.EducationWikipedia:WikiProject EducationTemplate:WikiProject Educationeducation articles
This article has been given a rating which conflicts with the
project-independent quality rating in the banner shell. Please resolve this conflict if possible.
Read the article, then look at the link you've replaced the external links with. Peer Support is not synonymous with
support groups and this Open Directory link simply does not include relevant information that is found in the original external links. You should be aware that many people look to Wikipedia for information beyond what's in the articles; the links on this page provide a great deal of useful information about different types of peer support besides just mental health, grief and bereavement, which is all that you'll find on the very restricted Open Directory link.
Ham-fisted editing by admin people drives qualified editors away from Wikipedia, and the more information you make available, the more people will use it and appreciate it.
Cmacauley (
talk)
21:37, 8 November 2011 (UTC)reply
Minor correction, the Open Directory link was already there. The idea is that links can be recommended to the OD site instead of us building an excessively cluttered list of links. This is standard practice, and is encouraged by the external links guideline. If you think there is a way to better focus the DMOZ link, please suggest it; I'd be more than happy to rework the template code. --Ckatzchatspy00:26, 9 November 2011 (UTC)reply
Cmacauley: Wikipedia is an encyclopedia not a portal for locating resources on the web. The policy on external links is to keep them to a minimum. There are plenty of other ways people can locate help without loading up articles here with links.
Jojalozzo02:34, 9 November 2011 (UTC)reply
External link to DMOZ deleted
The link to DMOZ was deleted with the summary that "Support groups for mental health are not representative of the content of this article". We should discuss that here before we decide to remove it.
Jojalozzo01:34, 10 November 2011 (UTC)reply
This link represents only part of the content of the article. Why select a mental health support groups link when peer support refers to education, physical and psychosocial support also? Peer support often occurs outside of support groups, too. The Open Directory link is specifically for "grief, loss and bereavement", and does not provide the wide range of information that was available in the other links. I don't understand how external links interfere with Wikipedia's function as an encyclopedia. Permit me to select three additional external links to add, underneath the Open Directory site.
Cmacauley (
talk)
02:04, 10 November 2011 (UTC)reply
I think we could include more links that take readers to sites with lists of links for general peer support resources. I do not want to see this page become a place where readers would expect to find individual links for specific support issues. As you have noted, the subject of this article is very general. I think we could consider replacing the existing link if it's too specific.
Jojalozzo02:28, 10 November 2011 (UTC)reply
Open Directory apparently only caters to support groups, most of them in the mental health sphere. That's OK but not sufficient in my view. One of the best websites for peer support is
the Peer Resources Index which you previously deleted as "spam" (where did that come from?). I have reinserted the
Psychosocial Support Center of the International Red Cross, a fairly good all-purpose website.
Open Directory exists as a link repository; if there isn't a subcategory for peer support, you are free to suggest that they create one. Wikipedia endorses the use of DMOZ so that we don't have to have these sort of EL collections. --Ckatzchatspy18:02, 10 November 2011 (UTC)reply
I'm surprised that there is no information in this article on the application of peer support to chronic disease management. Peer support has been shown to be effective in the management of diabetes, asthma, cardiovascular disease, and smoking cessation. Additionally, it has helped increase the rates of breastfeeding among new mothers.
On another note, I think this page should devote some attention the spread of peer support programs globally, as many low-resource communities have found peer support programs to be a cost-effective way of delivering health interventions. A cost-benefit analysis would also strengthen this article, especially in the current economic and political environment.
Yptang (
talk)
21:08, 9 August 2012 (UTC)reply
Wow, you didn't read the article, did you? There's a section on
Peer support in chronic illness that discusses diabetes, cancer and HIV. Smoking cessation more properly would go under addiction. I've never seen a cost-benefit analysis like the one you refer to, although I've been in the field for a decade. Feel free to add one if you can.
Cmacauley (
talk)
23:22, 9 August 2012 (UTC)reply
I totally missed that section, seeing as how it's listed under mental health. I still think that chronic diseases should get a new section with diabetes, HIV, and cancer getting their own headings. I will work on contributing more to this article.
Yptang (
talk)
15:06, 15 August 2012 (UTC)reply
Remove Globalization flag
Although this article uses many examples from the US, several pertinent examples from other countries are included, therefore I propose that the globalization flag be removed. Peer support in other countries does not differ substantially from that offered in the US.