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ABSTRACT Research highlights the long‐term collective effects of mass human rights violations (MHRVs) on survivors’ wellbeing. This multi‐method, multi‐context paper combines the social identity approach (SIA), transitional and social justice theories and human rights‐conceptualised wellbeing to propose a human rights understanding of trauma responses and experiences in the context of MHRVs. In Study 1, ethnographic research in four locations in Kosova, 5 years post war indicates that lack of perceived conflict‐related and social justice is experienced as a key contributor to survivors’ individual and collective wellbeing. In Study 2, 61 semi‐structured interviews with MHRVs survivors from post‐war Kosova, post‐conflict Northern Ireland and post‐dictatorship Albania two to three decades post conflict also show that such justice experiences inform wellbeing. These studies illustrate the importance of expanding the SIA to health and trauma theories by taking account of a human rights‐conceptualised wellbeing as well as adopting a holistic analysis of justice perception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UK's National Health Service has introduced Social Prescribing initiatives to tackle loneliness and ill‐health, yet it lacks a theoretical foundation and evidence base for Social Prescribing's effectiveness. Recent research applies the Social Identity Approach to Health (SIAH) to explain Social Prescribing's health benefits, emphasising how social connection unlocks health‐enhancing psychological mechanisms. This systematic review therefore aims to assess UK‐based Social Prescribing programmes designed to boost social connection and alleviate loneliness, examining programme efficacy and the role of SIAH processes in health outcomes. Following PRISMA guidelines, a narrative synthesis of articles published from May 5, 2006 (when social prescribing was first introduced in the NHS), to April 8, 2024, was conducted, and their quality assessed using CONSORT‐SPI (2018). Of these programmes, 10 employed a mixed‐methods design, 8 qualitative and 1 quantitative service evaluation, totalling 3,298 participants. Results indicate that Social Prescribing's psychological value lies in quality rather than quantity of social connections, with meaningful connections fostering shared identity, perceived support and self‐efficacy, the latter of which sustains social engagement post‐programme. The SIAH was a useful tool for mapping mixed‐methods findings onto a common theoretical framework to highlight these key proponents. Overall, this review underscores the importance of SIAH‐informed Social Prescribing interventions in enhancing social connectedness, reducing loneliness, and promoting overall health. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mass human rights violations, such as those which occurred during the Albanian Dictatorship (1945–1991), can impact citizens across generations. Decades later, the lives of families and community members are often defined by efforts to achieve justice and prevent similar future experiences. Existing research shows that social identities predict how survivors experience, understand, and cope with these violations. On the other hand, social identities can also inform societal-level strategies of peace and reconciliation in the aftermath. However, it is not known how ingroup norms (e.g., familial, civic) impact intergenerational understandings of and responses toward transitional justice. To explore this, we analyze the accounts of first-generation survivors of human rights violations during the Albanian Dictatorship and their descendants (n = 52). The data were analyzed through reflexive thematic analysis informed theoretically by the Social Identity Approach and conceptually by transitional justice frameworks. The findings indicate that families take a central role in determining how past harms are understood and responded to, and that associated identity-based norms (e.g., family norms) inform transmission of knowledge about past harms and appropriate forms of justice. Identity-based norms can also determine which justice processes are deemed acceptable for the next generation/s to engage in (e.g., peaceful responses, documentation of past harm, education of new generations, and fights for democracy). Implications for social identity and justice theories, as well as for practice, are discussed. Public Significance Statement: The present study suggests that family and civic social norms can guide intergenerational understanding and coping with mass human rights violations as well as responses to transitional justice processes (e.g., nonvengeance, documenting violations, democracy building) in the aftermath. As such, social norms should be integrated in the efforts for peace and reconciliation building. The findings also highlight the different benefits and harms of transmitting knowledge of the violations across generations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, there has been growing recognition of the threats to health posed by loneliness. One of the main strategies that has been recommended to address this is social prescribing (SP). This typically involves general practitioners (GPs) and other health practitioners directing clients who are experiencing loneliness and related conditions to take part in social activities—typically in recreational and community contexts. However, evidence for the effectiveness of SP is mixed—leading some to suggest that enthusiasm for it might be misplaced. In this review, we argue that a core problem with most existing approaches to SP is that they lack a strong theoretical base. This has been a barrier to (a) understanding when SP will work and why, (b) designing optimally effective SP programmes, and (c) developing practitioner skills and appropriate infrastructure to support them. As a corrective to this state of affairs, this review outlines a three-tier social identity framework for SP and five associated hypotheses. These hypotheses predict that SP will be more effective when (a) clients join groups and (b) these groups are ones with which they identify, and when SP is supported by (c) social-identity-enhancing social infrastructure, (d) a social-identity-based therapeutic alliance, and (e) identity leadership that builds and shapes this alliance as well as clients' identification with prescribed groups. This framework is supported by a range of evidence and provides an agenda for much-needed future research and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the 5th International Conference on Social Identity and Health (ICSIH 5) and its research on the Social Identity Approach to Health (SIAH). It highlights the theoretical foundations of SIAH, its benefits, and the role of multiple group memberships in enhancing resilience. It emphasizes the application of Social Cure insights in clinical, health, sport, and organizational settings.

Volunteering can enhance both help‐recipients' and volunteers' lives, so it is important to explore what motivates people to begin and continue volunteering. For instance, research underpinned by the social identity approach recognises that group‐related processes are consequential. Recent quantitative research within this tradition highlighted the potential importance of volunteering as a means of religious identity enactment, but no work has yet explored this idea qualitatively, which means that the richness and complexity of identity enactment as a motive for volunteering remains unexamined. Addressing this, we conducted interviews with volunteers (N = 26) within English religiously motivated voluntary organisations that are responding to an important real‐world issue: growing levels of food insecurity. Theoretically guided reflexive thematic analysis developed four themes showing that volunteering can facilitate enactment of different identities (i.e., religious, volunteer and human), thus illustrating the nuanced and complex nature of identity enactment through volunteering. Theoretical and practical implications are explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transition to veterancy can be psychologically challenging, and although the military provides support, the importance of social connectedness for well‐being is largely unrecognised. The significance of this oversight is highlighted by the Social Identity Model of Identity Change (SIMIC), which conceptualises life change as social identity change. SIMIC has been applied to numerous life transitions, but not to veterancy, although there is evidence that the social and psychological challenges of this transition may be especially profound (e.g., due to the chronically salient, highly structured and largely unique nature of military life and identity). To remedy this, in Study 1 (N = 210), UK‐based veterans completed an online survey. Consistent with SIMIC, social group maintenance and gain predicted mental health via the psychological resources they provided (meaning, self‐esteem, sense of personal control), and group gain was predicted by perceived military support during the transition. Study 2 (N = 14) extended these findings qualitatively through exploration of veterans' transition experiences. These studies are the first to apply aspects of the SIMIC to the veterancy transition, and they show the applicability of SIMIC in this context. They also highlight the need for transition‐related education that includes guidance on group joining and reconnecting. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eating disorder recovery is an identity transition characterised by ambivalence, in which group memberships play an important part. However, our understanding of how memberships of groups with different recovery norms (i.e., supportive vs. unsupportive of recovery) can facilitate or inhibit recovery is limited. To address this gap, this study adopted the Social Identity Model of Recovery to examine how recovery is manifest through the changing composition of an individual's group memberships. We employed a convergent mixed methods design to quantitatively determine whether specific groups (i.e., family, friends, and online groups) are more helpful to eating disorder recovery than others, and to qualitatively explore how group (in)compatibility shapes recovery efforts. There was a high level of convergence across survey (N = 112) and interview (N = 12) data: groups could have a positive or negative impact according to their recovery norms; different groups provided different forms of support and identity‐expression; incompatibility was not always experienced as a problem and could afford strategic benefits. Our findings are amongst the first to attest to the importance of considering identity networks (and their normative content) during eating disorder recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The stereotype that women are dependent on men is a commonly verbalized, potentially damaging aspect of benevolent sexism. We investigated how women may use behavioral disconfirmation of the personal applicability of the stereotype to negotiate such sexism. In an experiment (N = 86), we manipulated female college students' awareness that women may be stereotyped by men as dependent. We then placed participants in a situation where they needed help. Women made aware of the dependency stereotype (compared to controls who were not) were less willing to seek help. They also displayed a stronger negative correlation between help-seeking and post help-seeking affect--such that the more help they sought, the worse they felt. We discuss the relevance of these findings for research concerning women's help-seeking and their management of sexist stereotyping in everyday interaction. We also consider the implications of our results for those working in domains such as health care, teaching, and counseling, where interaction with individuals in need and requiring help is common. (Contains 3 notes.)

The authors present the journal's revised and expanded scope and the orientations and activities that are being undertaken in support of new initiatives. They talk about the re-scope undergone by the journal that meaningfully expanded the journal's original scope, the journal's value for targeted special issues, and the relevance of the journal to their communities, including stakeholders and practitioners.

Social identity approach (SIA) research shows that community members often work together to support survivors of collective victimization and rectify social injustices. However, complexities arise when community members have been involved in perpetrating these injustices. While many communities are unaware of their role in fostering victimization, others actively deny their role and responsibility to restore justice. We explore these processes by investigating experiences of community violence and collective justice‐seeking among Albanian survivors of dictatorial crimes. Survivors (N = 27) were interviewed, and data were analysed using theoretical thematic analysis guided by the SIA. The analysis reveals the diverse ways communities can become harmful 'Social Curses'. First, communities in their various forms became effective perpetrators of fear and control (e.g., exclusion and/or withholding ingroup privileges) during the dictatorship because of the close relationship between communities and their members. Second, communities caused harm by refusing to accept responsibility for the crimes, and by undermining attempts at collective action to address injustices. This lack of collective accountability also fosters survivors' feelings of exclusion and undermines their hope for systematic change. Implications for SIA processes relating to health/wellbeing (both Social Cure and Curse) are discussed. We also discuss implications for understanding collective action and victimhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Communities are vital sources of support during crisis, providing collective contexts for shared identity and solidarity that predict supportive, prosocial responses. The COVID‐19 pandemic has presented a global health crisis capable of exerting a heavy toll on the mental health of community members while inducing unwelcome levels of social disconnection. Simultaneously, lockdown restrictions have forced vulnerable community members to depend upon the support of fellow residents. Fortunately, voluntary helping can be beneficial to the well‐being of the helper as well as the recipient, offering beneficial collective solutions. Using insights from social identity approaches to volunteering and disaster responses, this study explored whether the opportunity to engage in helping fellow community members may be both unifying and beneficial for those engaging in coordinated community helping. Survey data collected in the UK during June 2020 showed that coordinated community helping predicted the psychological bonding of community members by building a sense of community identification and unity during the pandemic, which predicted increased well‐being and reduced depression and anxiety. Implications for the promotion and support of voluntary helping initiatives in the context of longer‐term responses to the COVID‐19 pandemic are provided. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stronger family relationships predict positive health outcomes: a relationship that is partially due to the range of emotional, practical and informational support that families can provide. Yet not all families possess these resources. A survey study in a disadvantaged community in Nottingham, UK (N = 142) demonstrated that family identification positively predicts ability to cope with financial stress, but that this relationship is moderated by whether family support is present or absent. Semi-structured interviews with 10 members of different families from the same community shed further light upon the nature of this relationship: individuals report that they tend to turn to their family rather than friends or community services in times of financial hardship, even though their family are unlikely to be able to support them effectively, and that this is often due to feelings of embarrassment or finance-related stigma. Our findings highlight the complex role that families can play in finance-related issues, as well as the need to encourage individuals to seek financial support from sources which provide effective (rather than emotionally comfortable) assistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The prevalence of depression and loneliness is increasing in Western nations, and both have been shown to cause poor sleep quality, with evidence suggesting that loneliness also predicts depression. The Social Cure perspective can shed light on these relationships and thus informs the present study. Specifically, it was hypothesized that the extent of participants' identification with a significant social group, their family, would positively predict sleep quality and that this relationship would be mediated by loneliness and depression.Design: A two-lave longitudinal online survey was used.Methods: Participants completed an online survey at T1 (N = 387) and 1 year later at T2 (N = 122) assessing the extent to which they identified with their family. Their loneliness, depressive symptomology, and sleep quality/insomnia severity were also measured.Results: Consistent with predictions, cross-sectional and longitudinal serial mediation models indicated that family identification was a negative predictor of loneliness, which in turn was a positive predictor of depression, which predicted poor sleep quality/insomnia.Conclusions: This is the first Social Cure study to explore the mediated relationship between social identification and sleep quality. As well as advancing the Social Cure perspective, these results have implications for how health professionals understand, prevent, and treat sleep problems. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? The prevalence of depression and loneliness is increasing in Western nations, and both have been shown to cause poor sleep quality. Weak social networks have been shown to predict restless sleep over time, and that depressed mood mediates this relationship. What does this study add? Family identification negatively predicted poor sleep quality cross-sectionally. Depression and loneliness positively predicted poor sleep quality over time. Depression and loneliness mediated the family identification-sleep quality relationship over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rape is widely used as a weapon of war. Despite its prevalence and impact, war rape is rarely reported, partly because it is perceived as norm violating in the patriarchal societies within which it often purposely occurs (e.g., by violating the norm that women should remain chaste), leading to survivors being excluded from their families and communities. While this exclusion is well-documented in the immediate aftermath of war, little is known about its long-term effects on survivors, the strategies survivors use to overcome these effects, or the extent to which these effects and strategies are determined by societal norms and societal discourses. The present article addresses these gaps via two studies, focusing on rape that occurred during the Kosova War in 1998–1999. Study 1 analyzed the accounts of war-rape survivors (N = 18), showing that societal stigma associated with war rape had long-term negative effects on survivors' lives and that survivors' coping strategies involved focusing on other valued social norms and identities (e.g., motherhood) to reframe their self-image and enhance their self-worth. Study 2 analyzed Kosova's political parliamentary debates on legal recognition of war-rape survivors as war victims using a critical discursive approach. Analysis identified gendered discourses of victimhood and motherhood, which serve to rhetorically undermine women's agency, resilience, and independence. These arguments were used to legitimize the injustices that survivors endured. Findings from both studies suggest that wider societal gendered discriminatory practices have impacted survivors' experiences of war rape. Implications for theory and practice are discussed. Public Significance Statement: The present study evidences the long-term impact of war rape and the strategies used by survivors to cope with and overcome the stigma associated with it. While survivors rely on their social identities to make sense and overcome the challenges they face, they also pay close attention to public discourses on war rape. This study illustrates how public discourses, such as parliamentary debates, can further contribute to societal discriminatory gender practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A growing body of literature has highlighted the relationship between group identification (a subjective sense of belonging to one's social group, coupled with a subjective sense of commonality with the group's members) and well‐being. However, little of this work is longitudinal, and few studies address reciprocal causality or control for intensity of contact with fellow group members. Method: We investigated the effect of university identification on satisfaction with life (SWL) over time (and vice versa) in 216 Spanish undergraduates, with seven months between T1 and T2. Results: While greater university identification T1 predicted higher SWL T2, SWL T1 did not predict university identification T2. University contact T1 was unrelated to SWL T2. Conclusions: These results show that university identification impacts positively on SWL over time (rather than SWL impacting positively on university identification over time), and this is not reducible to the effects exerted by university contact. The implications for those who work with students are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the effect of family identification (one's subjective sense of belonging to and commonality with the family) on self-reported ill-health in 206 Valencian undergraduates, with eight months between Time 1 (T1) and Time 2 (T2). While greater family identification T1 predicted lower ill-health T2, ill-health T1 did not predict family identification T2. Family contact T1 (one's intensity of interaction with family) was unrelated to ill-health T2. This shows that family identification impacts positively on health over time (rather than health impacting positively on family identification over time), and this is not reducible to effects exerted by family contact. These findings indicate that encouraging patients to engage in group activities might produce negligible health gains unless the patient identifies with the group in question. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seeking help from an outgroup can be difficult, especially when the outgroup is known to stereotype the ingroup negatively and the potential recipient cares strongly about its social image. However, we ask whether even highly identified ingroup members may seek help from a judgmental outgroup if doing so allows them to disconfirm the outgroup’s negative stereotype of the ingroup. We presented participants with one of two negative outgroup stereotypes of their ingroup. One could be disconfirmed through seeking help, the other could not. Study 1 (n = 43) showed group members were aware of the strategic implications of seeking help for disconfirming these stereotypes. Study 2 (n = 43) showed high identifiers acted on such strategic knowledge by seeking more help from the outgroup when help-seeking could disconfirm a negative stereotype of their group (than when it could not). Implications for the seeking and acceptance of help are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT People who need help can be reluctant to seek it. This can be due to social image concerns. Here, we investigate if these concerns may be prompted by a salient negative meta-stereotype: the belief that one's group is judged negatively by another group. Specifically, we researched group members' help-seeking behaviour in the context of a dependency-related meta-stereotype. In a two-condition study ( N = 45), we manipulated participants' belief that their national group was judged dependent by a significant out-group. We then examined their subsequent help-seeking behaviour on a real-world task. Participants whose social identity as a group member was salient showed greater reluctance to seek help when the meta-stereotype was made prominent compared with when it was not. This suggests that, in a context where social image and social identity concerns are relevant, group members are willing to sacrifice the possibility of accessing needed help in order to avoid confirming a negative stereotype of their group. The implications of these results for helping transactions and community development are discussed. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the question whether the book "Toward a New Psychology of Women," by Jean Baker Miller is still significant 30 years after it is published. According to the article, the incontrovertible advances and achievements of women show that the theory of Miller on women's psychology has become irrelevant. However, it is stated that the ideas of the book are still relevant to the lives of women, but it is the societal perception of feminism that is regarded as irrelevant. The classic feminist text has been proven that it continues to give women with ways for making better sense of their daily experiences and provide them with tools for valuing their womanhood.