History of Self-help Activities - Temperance Fraternities and Clubs on the Historical Territories of Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia
Abstract
Background: In general, self-help activities and organisations are an important element of anti-alcohol efforts. They also have an irreplaceable role in the therapeutic process and education.
KLUS, founded in February 1948, is one of the oldest self-help groups that has been operating continuously in what is now the Czech Republic. The origins of the self-help groups date back to temperance associations and fraternities which had developed systematically on the territory since the mid-19th century.
Aims: The aim of this article is to describe the circumstances of the establishment, operation, and dissolution of the temperance associations and fraternities on the historical territories of Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia. Methods: Qualitative content analysis of retrieved historical documents was used to identify, generate, and work with the data.
This was identified, retrieved, coded, and compiled according to its mutual thematic relationship in the context of time, author, and place of origin. Results and conclusions: During the 19th and until the beginning of the 20th century, ten fraternities and temperance associations and one temperance association for juveniles operated on the historical territories of Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia.
One association was active in Bohemia, five in Moravia, and four in Silesia.