Distinguishing Social Group Work From Other Groups PDF

**Distinguishing Social Group Work Group from other Groups** Groupwork is at the core of the social work preofession - Lindsey and Orton (2008) - Social, Family, and Informal Groups - These groups that you are joined to because of your life circumstances. Some of your behaviours within...

**Distinguishing Social Group Work Group from other Groups** Groupwork is at the core of the social work preofession - Lindsey and Orton (2008) - Social, Family, and Informal Groups - These groups that you are joined to because of your life circumstances. Some of your behaviours within these groups are most likely transferred into "groupwork" groups, especially when you start to facilitate them. - Working Groups Covers a wide range of gatherings and forms: ✓ long-term training ✓ seminars & workshops ✓ formal and informal meetings & gatherings v personal & therapeutic development groups Wat the work is and does it? Who decides when and where they meet? How do they organize themselves and know what to do? Is there an agenda or order of business? How do they decide who speaks when and what happens if these "rules" are broken? Key: Relationship between the intention/purpose of the group & the behavior that results "We all react differently to different circumstances in groups and it is almost entirely due to our own personal responses and choices.." -- Lindsay & Orton (2008 ▪ Small Helping Groups -- Groupwork "Groupwork is, obviously, working with groups......but beyond that it is a term that is hard to define **Definitions od GROUP** **Sherif & Sherif (1969):** "Some form of social structure (status or role differentiation, e.g., a leadership role) is essential, otherwise the 'group' would just be a loose collection of individuals" **▪ Bales (1950):** "face-to-face interaction is important" **▪ Brown (1992):** "There is INTERDEPENDECE between the members and a COMMON PUPROSE exists, however ill-defined; either be FORMAL or INFORMAL; e.g. collection of young people who hang around a bus stop or it could be a committee set up by a government body. **▪ Manor (2000):** ". every group has some unique features, yet all groups have characteristics that are the same." **▪ Preston-Shoot (2007):** "a collection of people who spend time together and that they recognize themselves as a group and are seen by other people as a group" ▪ **Levine & Moreland (2006):** "it may be misguided to make hard-and-fast distinctions between GROUPS and NONGROUPS, preferring to think in terms of GROUPINESS, or social interaction, as a dimension along which sets of people can vary. **▪ Coulshed & Orme (2006):** "Perception of group membership extends beyond the time that the people spend together; loyalty & commitment arise out of the interaction that takes place; members of CHAT ROOMS may well consider themselves to be members of a group & therefore it isn't necessary that the group physically meets" ▪ **Nijstad & Daan van Knippenberg (2007):** "" when two or more individuals define themselves as members of a group; it's subjective & does not include any 'objective' characteristics of groups, such as common fate or face-to-face interaction; emphasizes common identity -- sharing the same views; SOCIAL GROUP WORK In social group work, a practitioner can facilitate a group of children using program media or activities that are suitable for young group members **Definitions Of Group in Social Work** A simple collection of people is not a group." "A group is not static, but a constantly moving and changing small system. It has a life of its own. It goes through different phases each of which has certain dynamics that a practitioner must understand & deal with whenever appropriate in order to be effective in her interventive work." -Thelma Lee-Mendoza, Social Work With Groups 1999, p.4 "Group is comprised of two or more persons in relationship of psychic interaction with one another acting as an entity. They have something in common and use face to face interaction to share that commonality and work to fulfill needs and value common problems, theirs or others." - Leonora Serafica De Guzman Group is "at least two people, but usually more, gathered with common purposes or like interests in a cognitive, affective, and social interchange in single or repeated encounters." "These encounters are sufficient for the participants to form impressions of one another, creating a set of norms for their functioning together, developing goals for their collective authority, evolving a sense of cohesion so that they think of themselves and are thought of by others as an entity distinct from all other collectivities." Groupwork is at the core of the social work profession" - Lindsey & Orton (2008 TYPES OF GROUP WORK GROUPS ========================== TREATMENT GROUPS ================ Support groups can be distinguished from other groups using supportive intervention strategies by their - A group of children meeting at school to discuss the effects of deaths in their families on their lives. - A group of people diagnosed with cancer, and their families, discussing the effects of the disease and how to cope with it. - A group of recently discharged psychiatric patients discussing their adjustment to community living. *2. Educational Groups* ----------------------- - A group of women in slums who want to know about reproductive and child health. - A group of parents who are going to adopt children. - A group of NGO leaders who want to be more effective. *3. Growth Groups* ------------------ - A group for newly married couples - A value clarification group for youth - A consciousness raising group for Rotary club members *4. Therapy Groups* ------------------- - A psychotherapy group for outpatients at a community mental health centre. - A group sponsored by an NGO for people who want to stop smoking. - A group for children who are first time offenders. *5. Socialisation Groups* ------------------------- - A youth group in Nehru Yuvak Kendra - A social club for outpatients of a psychiatry centre - A group for children from poor and disadvantaged neighbourhoods a. Social skills groups ----------------------- b. Governance groups -------------------- c. Recreational groups ---------------------- Recreational groups are particularly important for working with children, adolescents and older adults in neighbourhood centres. They can help members learn community values and accepted forms of behaviour, develop interpersonal skills and feel a sense of belonging. In addition recreational groups help members develop confidence in their ability to function as a part of a group and to function in other social situations. *6. Self-help Groups* --------------------- TASK GROUPS ----------- Based on client needs: *Teams* ------------------------------ - A group of workers in charge of a particular department in a company - A group of professionals who work in psychiatric hospitals Based on organizational needs: *Committees* ------------------------------------------- - A group of students in charge of a rural camp for the college - A group of employees assigned the task of studying and recommending changes in the agency's personnel policies. Based on community needs: *Social Action Groups* ------------------------------------------------ - - The Uses of Groups (Thelma Lee-Mendoza. Social Work with Groups) Advantages of using the group approach: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Social workers from groups because they recognize that groups can be effectively utilized to bring about planned change. Specific reasons for using the group mode of service. - - - - - Margaret E. Hartford: Targets for the so-called "common-sense classification" are: - - - - On the basis of social science theoretical formulae and studies, Hartford offers the following categories of group use: 1. - Socialization -- resocialization - Acquiring or changing concept of self, identity, motivation; attitude formation and change, formation and modification of values and beliefs; behavioral change; achieving a sense of belonging and support; education - Ex: *Group of women helped to learn new knowledge and skills that not only help them become better wives and mothers but also improve their self-esteem which, in turn, leads to even more positive results like the women becoming contributing members in their respective communities.* 2. - Work on common or joint tasks, particularly in the area of ideas, group thinking, cognitive and emotional, or social, or individual, group, or social situation - *Ex: Group of unwed teenage mothers for whom a guided group experience can help them decide whether to keep their babies or give them up for adoption, and also help them resolve problems like family rejection. Returning to school or finding employment, and others.* 3. - Modification of the institution or social system within which the group exists or of the social situation -- including the community or society through pressure, dissemination of information, or organization; modification of attitudes of outsiders. - Social action is not only in terms of large-scale community organizing but such activity is ideally done by small groups who want to change something in their situations which they see as the cause of their difficulty or problem. - *Ex: Group of mothers in a remote rural area in the Mountain Province able to pressure their town mayor to order the closure of a gambling den in the area* - *Ex: Group of eight patients in a hospital ward succeeded in making the hospital administration change the rules pertaining to the visiting hours for patients* - In both examples, the goals were achieved with the worker serving primarily as a GUIDE and ENABLER HOW GROUPS EFFECT CHANGE ------------------------ Dorwin Cartwright's Three Ways of viewing how groups enter into the process of change: I. - The target of influence is the individual member, and the source of influence is the group - Guided group processes are utilized to help members of the group with their particular problems - Group members may require guidance in developing their sense of identity or in enhancing their feeling of belongingness and self-esteem; others may need help in the areas of interpersonal relationships, motivation, and learning. - In all these situations, the group serves as small social system whose influence can be guided by the social worker so as to induce desired changes among individual participants. Thus the group becomes a MEDIUM OF CHANGE. II. - It may also be necessary for the group as a whole or certain aspects of the group to change in order to effect change in its members. - Robert Vinter calls this "*indirect means of influence"*, where practitioner interventions are used to effect modifications in [group conditions] which, in turn, affect the members. These conditions include the group's composition, climate, structure (including size, governing and operating procedures, and sub-groups) and processes. - Use of such means of influence is unique to group work because the group serves as the "*action system"*. - *Ex: The group size may have to be changed if it is affecting the quality of membermember and worker-member interactions and relationship, and a highly formal or autocratic leadership style may have to be modified if it is blocking individual participation and group decision-making.* - These and other changes in different aspects of the group system often have to be undertaken in order to achieve desired effects on the individual members as defined by their treatment or helping goals. III. - Its concept refers to the active involvement of the group in efforts to modify, or redirect features or forces in its social environment which make demands, create pressures, and impose constraints on the group which can have adverse effects on its development and goal achievement. - Note: In many cases, change in the individual or group can only come about after the social environment has been modified or changed. - The use of the group as an agent of change is done not only to supplement the worker's own efforts, but to enable the group to be an *active player* in its own goaachieving process. Such an experience, constantly repeated, helps to develop in the group members a sense of **autonomy** and **confidence** which is what ultimately leads to **human empowerment**, priority value in social work. - Vinter & Galinsky: a. Separate social affiliations and personal environments of the group's members b. Objects, persons, and other units collectively encountered by the group as a social entity (ex: - Group attention can be focused on the group members' personal environments, with members sharing past experiences, ideas on appropriate behavior, and problem-solving tasks. - In the case of homogeneous groups, individual members often find that they have many common experiences, so the group's efforts in dealing with one member's personal situation are also directly relevant to the other member's situations. - The group's effort at modifying conditions in its social environment which impinge on the whole group may relate to varied concerns such as: - The lack or absence of essential resources (e.g. medical supplies in a government - Unreasonable agency policies and rules; - Non-observance of laws and regulations; - Negative attitudes of service providers; and - Hostile attitudes of the outside community - Note: - Information dissemination - Persuasion - Bargaining or negotiation Pressure - Confrontation, and others - The worker may have to perform varied roles in relation to a group that seeks to modify its social environment. These roles can include being: - Information-giver - Facilitator - Mediator - Counselor - Adviser - Catalyst - Consultant - A reciprocal relationship exists between intragroup factors and conditions, and the group's immediate and broader environment. - NOTE: Theoretical Base of Social Group Work ------------------------------------- - - - - De Guzman, Dictionary of Social Work Philippine Setting (1988): Concepts of Social Group Work ============================= Philosophy of Social Group Work =============================== Principles of Social Group Work =============================== 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. PHASES OF GROUP DEVELOPMENT --------------------------- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -