Group Process and Practice

Questioning

aims at stimulating thought and action but avoiding question/answer patterns of interaction between leader and member.

Universality

allows members to see commonalities in the shared personal concerns expressed by members; themes emerge within a group that leads members to appreciate a range of basic human concerns.

Research Orientation

allows therapists to remain flexible and responsive to new evidence

Task groups (p.7)

also known as task facilitation groups, focus on the application of group dynamics principles and processes to improve practice and foster accomplishment of identified work goals.

Diversity competent group leaders:

are AWARE of personal beliefs & attitudes, biases, values, prejudices, assumptions; have KNOWLEDGE of the cultures of group members; can implement SKILLS & interventions appropriate to the culture; understand your possible privilege and power status in group

Contracts

are a way to help members assume an active and responsible stance; a contract is a statement by participants of what problems they want to explore and what behaviors they are willing to change.

Explicit norms

are clearly and directly stated norms

Closed groups

are composed of the same group members for the lifetime of a group, which is usually time-limited.

Therapeutic factors

are the dynamics within a group that play a key role in producing constructive changes.

Group norms

are the shared beliefs about expected behaviors aimed at making groups function effectively.

Open groups

are those that are characterized by changing membership.

Implicit norms

are unspoken ones that can have an effect on shaping the members' responses and behaviors.

Resistance

can be viewed as the individual's reluctance to bring into conscious awareness threatening material that has been previously repressed or denied.

Postgroup meetings

consist of a follow-up sessions scheduled sometime after the termination of a group as an evaluative approach and a measure of accountability

Empathizing

consists of adopting the internal frame of reference of a member.

Pregroup stage

consists of all the factors involved in the formation of a group, such as screening, selection, and orientation of members

Homework

consists of assignments of behaviors that members can practice both in and out of the group.

Negligence

consists of departing from the standard of care that results in injury to the client.

Suggesting

consists of offering information or possibilities for action that can be used by members in making independent decisions.

Supporting

consists of offering some form of positive reinforcement at appropriate times in such a way that it has a facilitating effect.

Co-leadership model advantage

decreases burnout, less overwhelming, one leader can operate if another must be absent, peer supervision, helps manage countertransference by providing different perspective on interpretation, can help process members reactions to other leader.

Legal issues

define the minimum standards society will tolerate, which are enforced by rule of law at the local, state, or national level.

Contracts

during the final stage of a group outline specific steps members agree to take to increase their chances of successfully meeting their goals when the group ends.

Culture

encompasses the values, beliefs, and behaviors shared by a group of people. Broadly defined, culture takes into consideration demographic variables (age, gender, and residence), status variables (social, educational, and economic), and affiliations (formal and informal).

Narrative therapy

encourages group members to view their life stories from different perspectives. Grounded in a philosophical framework, narrative practices assist members in finding new meanings and new possibilities in their lives.

Clarifying

entails focusing on the underlying issues and assisting others to get a clearer picture of what they are thinking or feeling.

Involuntary membership

entails members being required to attend a group

Co-leadership Model Disadvantage

failure to meet; failure to cooperate, poor selection, random assignment can lead to poor working sills modeled to group

Structured groups

focus on a particular theme and are often psychoeducational in nature.

Psychoeducation group focus: (p. 8)

focus on developing members' cognitive, affective, and behavioral skills through a structured set of procedures within and across group meetings.

Counseling groups focus (p. 9)

focus on interpersonal process and problem-solving strategies that stress conscious thoughts, feelings, and behavior. may be designed for prevention, development, or remediation purposes.

Behavioral domain

focuses on the action and doing component as being central to the change process.

Affective domain

focuses on the feelings of group members

Brief group therapy (BGT)

generally refers to groups that are time limited, structured and last 2 to 3 months, and consist of 8 to 12 weekly meetings.

Groups as natural laboratory

groups present a microcosm of society in which members can experiement with new ways of being; interpersonal difficulties get played out in the group, feedback from is essential to change

Psychotherapy groups

have the purpose of assisting members remediate psychological problems

Genuineness

implies congruence between a person's inner experience and she he or she projects externally.

Group process

includes activities such as establishing norms and group cohesion, learning to work cooperatively, establishing ways of solving problems, and learning to express conflict openly.

Clinical issues

involve using your professional judgment to act in accordance with ethical and legal mandates.

Caring confrontation

involves a timely challenge to invite members to look at aspects of themselves that they have been avoiding.

Reflecting

involves capturing the underlying meaning of what is said or felt and expressing this without being mechanical.

Confronting

involves challenging members to look at some aspects of their behavior.

Modeling

involves demonstrating to members desired behaviors that can be practiced both during and between group sessions

Active listening

involves hearing and understanding both subtle and direct messages, and communicating this to a group member.

Facilitating

involves helping members to express themselves clearly and to take action in a group.

Summarizing

involves identifying key elements and common themes and providing a picture of the directional trends of a group session.

Screening

involves interviewing potential group members to determine if they are likely to benefit from a particular group experience.

Informed consent

involves providing members with a disclosure statement that describes information about a group.

Integrative approach

involves the process of selecting concepts and methods from various theoretical approaches

Therapeutic group (p.6)

is a general term that refers to groups with the purposes of increasing members' knowledge of themselves and others, clarifying the changes them want to make in their lives, and providing them with tools needed to make these changes.

Privileged communication

is a legal concept that generally bars the disclosure of confidential communications in a legal proceeding.

Pregroup meeting

is a preliminary session that provides members with more information to help them decide if they are willing to commit themselves to a group experience. A pregroup session is a time for orientation of group members.

Group cohesion

is a sense of togetherness, or community, within a group.

Assessing

is a set of skills that includes the ability to appraise certain behavior problems and to choose the appropriate intervention.

Terminating

is a skill of ending work with individuals and groups.

Linking

is a technique aimed at promoting member-to-member interaction and facilitating exploration of common themes in a group.

Hope

is a therapeutic factor in a group that leads to the realization that change is possible.

Catharsis

is a therapeutic factor that involves the expression of feelings that have been denied expression; these feelings can be released verbally or physically.

Practitioner resistance

is a therapeutic impasse resulting from the therapist's failure to listen to and understand group members.

Final stage

is a time in a group for members to consolidate their learning and developing ways for transferring what they learned in the group to daily life.

Gestalt therapy

is an existential-phenomenological approach based on the premise that individuals must be understood in the context of their ongoing relationship with the environment.

Blocking

is an intervention aimed at stopping counterproductive behaviors in a group or to protect members.

Hidden agenda

is an issue that is not openly acknowledged and discussed, which can result in bogging down a group.

Evaluating

is appraising the ongoing group process and the individual and group dynamics

The transition stage

is characterized by anxiety, defensiveness, resistance, a range of control issues, intermember conflicts, challenges to or conflicts with the leader, and various patterns of problem behaviors.

Initiating

is demonstrating an active stance in intervening in a group at appropriate times.

Interpreting

is explaining the meaning of behavior patterns within some theoretical framework.

Feedback

is information that is shared within a group with emphasis on how members are being perceived. Interpersonal feedback occurs when group members of leaders share their observations and personal reactions regarding the behavior or feelings of another.

The Optimal Group CLimate

is safe, positive, and supportive yet can withstand highly charged emotions, challenges, and interactions between members and is increased by leader's interpersonal skills of warmth, genuineness, empathy

Initial stage of a group

is the period characterized by an orientation to how the group works, getting acquainted, establishing trust, and defining personal goals.

Working stage

is the period in a group characterized by an increased commitment of members to deal with significant problems they bring to the sessions and a more in-depth self-exploration. There is an increased of action-oriented behaviors such as self-disclosure, giving and receiving feedback, and discussion of here-and-now interactions.

Identification

is the process by which a member can relate to the concerns of others.

Caring

is the therapeutic factor in a group that is best demonstrated by listening and involvement and by staying present with others.

Psychoeducation group leader task: (p.8)

main task is to provide instruction and create a positive climate that fosters learning

Co-leader common mistakes

not sitting opposite each other for eye contact; not communicating plans; monopolize time or competing; trying to be right and make co-leader wrong; one leader does most of work while other is quite; taking turns instead of adding to each others interventions

Common multicultural challenge in establishing goals for group

occurs when success in one culture directly contradicts what success in another culture looks like

Ethical issues

pertain to standards that govern the conduct of professional members.

Theoretical integration

pertains to a conceptual or theoretical creation beyond a mere blending of techniques.

Division of responsibility

pertains to the balance of responsibility for the direction of a group between members and the leader.

Group process

pertains to the dynamics such as the norms that govern a group, the level of cohesion in a group, how trust is generated, how conflict emerges and is addressed, the forces that bring about healing, intermember feedback, and the various stages in the life of a group

Structuring

pertains to the leader's interventions in providing direction or guidance.

Cognitive domain

pertains to the thinking or thought processes of group members.

Goals of Multicultural Groupwork

promote human development, enhance interpersonal relationships; promote task achievement; remediate disorders and distress; lessen the risk of distress, disability, loss of dignity or autonomy

Solution-focused brief therapy

provides a context whereby individuals focus on recovering and creating solutions rather than talking about their problems.

Cultural norms

refer to differences among various cultural groups and the values influencing behavior.

Group norms

refer to the expectations that govern behavior within a group.

Competence

refers to a group leader's skills and knowledge required to effectively facilitate a group.

Group techniques

refers to a leader's explicit and directive request of a member for the purpose of focusing on material, augmenting or exaggerating affect, practicing behavior, or solidifying insight.

Unfinished business

refers to encouraging members to express and work through personal concerns or reactions to others prior to the final meeting of a group.

Technical eclecticism

refers to selecting techniques from various theoretical approaches without necessarily subscribing to the particular orientation.

Modeling

refers to specific behaviors that either group members or the group leader displays in a group session as a way to demonstrate a behavioral style.

Empathy

refers to the act of perceiving the internal frame of reference of another, of grasping a person's subjective world, without losing one's own identity.

Countertransference

refers to the group leader's unconscious emotional responses to a group member that are likely to interfere with objectivity; unresolved conflicts of the group leader that are projected onto a group member.

Transference

refers to the group member's unconscious shifting to the group leader or to another member of feelings, both positive and negative, that are displacements from reactions to significant others from a member's past. A group context has the potential for multiple transferences.

Recognizable factors of Positive outcomes in group therapy

skilled leadership, appropriately referred members, clearly defined goals

Brief Group Therapy advantages

suited to managed care climate, cost-effective, widely applicable to diverse issues, clients,and settings

Types of Groups

task group: accomplish work goals, psychoeducational group: educate, group counseling: prevent & educate here&now, group psychotherapy: remediation of in-depth issues of past& present, brief group therapy

Dynamics of each theoretical stance

thinking, feeling, doing

Courage needed in group leader

to be vulnerable; to confront when necessary; to act on beliefs and huncches; to be emotionally affected and draw on personal experiences; to examine own life; to be direct & honest while being caring & respectful

Counseling groups leader task (p. 9)

to structure the activities of the group, to create a climate favorable to productive work, to facilitate interactions, to provide alternatives to behavior, to help translate insight into concrete action plans