Pub Date : 2021-09-22DOI: 10.1080/01609513.2021.1972717
Willemien M. Roodt, M. Ubbink
ABSTRACT National and international research studies that involve parents for obtaining their insight on content of school bullying prevention programmes are minimal. The purpose of this research study was to conduct a needs assessment to obtain parents’ preferences in terms of the content that are to be included or addressed in a potential three dimensional-bullying programme (3D-bullying programme) for parents, educators, and learners in a South African context. This research study used a self-developed questionnaire and a cross-sectional survey at five schools in South Africa (SA) with varying socio-economic circumstances. The research methodology followed a quantitative research approach and a quantitative-descriptive survey design. The findings could be useful for developing a three-dimensional social group work school bullying programme to address bullying in primary schools.
{"title":"Parents’ preferences on the content of a 3D-school group work bullying programme: a needs assessment","authors":"Willemien M. Roodt, M. Ubbink","doi":"10.1080/01609513.2021.1972717","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01609513.2021.1972717","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT National and international research studies that involve parents for obtaining their insight on content of school bullying prevention programmes are minimal. The purpose of this research study was to conduct a needs assessment to obtain parents’ preferences in terms of the content that are to be included or addressed in a potential three dimensional-bullying programme (3D-bullying programme) for parents, educators, and learners in a South African context. This research study used a self-developed questionnaire and a cross-sectional survey at five schools in South Africa (SA) with varying socio-economic circumstances. The research methodology followed a quantitative research approach and a quantitative-descriptive survey design. The findings could be useful for developing a three-dimensional social group work school bullying programme to address bullying in primary schools.","PeriodicalId":39702,"journal":{"name":"Social Work with Groups","volume":"45 1","pages":"353 - 369"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47355123","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-09-07DOI: 10.1080/01609513.2021.1953284
Sarah Larocque, Melissa Popiel, D. Este, W. Pelech, R. Pillay, David Nicholas, Christopher Kilmer
ABSTRACT Despite its historic prominence in group work, there is little empirical research to support our understanding of the professional use of self in group work. This paper reports the results of a SPARC endorsed study, which focused on group workers’ experience and struggle with their professional uses of self in groups in responding to diversity. Using focus groups, a semi-structured interview format, and Straussian grounded theory data analysis, two key themes emerged – grappling with professional uses of self and disengagement from professional uses of self. When grappling with professional uses of self, group workers employed intentional self-disclosure, opened space, and supported norms for the expression of diversity, humility, genuineness, and reflexivity. Disengagement occurred in response to fear and often resulted in an overemphasis on group tasks. Our results suggest that the effective professional use of self in the here and now of group dynamics creates a sense of safety for both the group workers and the group members when responding to diversity. The implications of this study highlight the need for a method that supports critical self-reflection in real-time in group and builds capacity for responsibly responding to diversity in groups.
{"title":"Responding to diversity in groups: exploring professional uses of self","authors":"Sarah Larocque, Melissa Popiel, D. Este, W. Pelech, R. Pillay, David Nicholas, Christopher Kilmer","doi":"10.1080/01609513.2021.1953284","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01609513.2021.1953284","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Despite its historic prominence in group work, there is little empirical research to support our understanding of the professional use of self in group work. This paper reports the results of a SPARC endorsed study, which focused on group workers’ experience and struggle with their professional uses of self in groups in responding to diversity. Using focus groups, a semi-structured interview format, and Straussian grounded theory data analysis, two key themes emerged – grappling with professional uses of self and disengagement from professional uses of self. When grappling with professional uses of self, group workers employed intentional self-disclosure, opened space, and supported norms for the expression of diversity, humility, genuineness, and reflexivity. Disengagement occurred in response to fear and often resulted in an overemphasis on group tasks. Our results suggest that the effective professional use of self in the here and now of group dynamics creates a sense of safety for both the group workers and the group members when responding to diversity. The implications of this study highlight the need for a method that supports critical self-reflection in real-time in group and builds capacity for responsibly responding to diversity in groups.","PeriodicalId":39702,"journal":{"name":"Social Work with Groups","volume":"45 1","pages":"370 - 386"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44016922","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-08-25DOI: 10.1080/01609513.2021.1968241
Zaza Sakhat
{"title":"Creative dance and movement in groupwork","authors":"Zaza Sakhat","doi":"10.1080/01609513.2021.1968241","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01609513.2021.1968241","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":39702,"journal":{"name":"Social Work with Groups","volume":"45 1","pages":"97 - 98"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-08-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48684771","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-08-22DOI: 10.1080/01609513.2021.1953283
Kenan Sualp, F. E. Ergüney Okumuş, Olga Molina
ABSTRACT This study employed a grounded theory approach to understand group work training for mental health professionals (MHPs) working with Syrian refugee children in Turkey. Specifically, the authors set out to discover the barriers that prevent MHPs from conducting effective group work, elaborate on needed content and structure of the groups, highlight their potential benefits, and provide recommendations for conducting more effective group work to mitigate traumatic symptoms of Syrian refugee children. Interviews were conducted with 10 MHPs, including social workers (n = 4), psychologists (n = 5) and a psychiatrist (n = 1). Results revealed three themes including, i) Barriers for group work, ii) Benefits of group work, and iii) Recommendations for group work. Barriers included issues related to culture and language, access, intervention, organization and system-related barriers, and barriers stemming from ongoing trauma and abuse of Syrian refugee children, as well as secondary trauma of MHPs providing services. Benefits included MHPs’ perceived personal and interpersonal development skills, trauma resilience, and adjustment and adaptation for Syrian refugee children. Recommendations to mitigate the barriers for group work included the necessity of short term, cost-effective, ongoing crisis interventions that address stabilization and regulation of refugee children’s functioning. The study highlighted the importance of the effectiveness of interventions linked to qualifications of MHPs, designing group interventions that target the secondary trauma of MHPs, and the importance of psychosocial awareness interventions that aim to increase knowledge about refugee rights.
{"title":"Group work training for mental health professionals working with Syrian refugee children in Turkey: a needs assessment study","authors":"Kenan Sualp, F. E. Ergüney Okumuş, Olga Molina","doi":"10.1080/01609513.2021.1953283","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01609513.2021.1953283","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This study employed a grounded theory approach to understand group work training for mental health professionals (MHPs) working with Syrian refugee children in Turkey. Specifically, the authors set out to discover the barriers that prevent MHPs from conducting effective group work, elaborate on needed content and structure of the groups, highlight their potential benefits, and provide recommendations for conducting more effective group work to mitigate traumatic symptoms of Syrian refugee children. Interviews were conducted with 10 MHPs, including social workers (n = 4), psychologists (n = 5) and a psychiatrist (n = 1). Results revealed three themes including, i) Barriers for group work, ii) Benefits of group work, and iii) Recommendations for group work. Barriers included issues related to culture and language, access, intervention, organization and system-related barriers, and barriers stemming from ongoing trauma and abuse of Syrian refugee children, as well as secondary trauma of MHPs providing services. Benefits included MHPs’ perceived personal and interpersonal development skills, trauma resilience, and adjustment and adaptation for Syrian refugee children. Recommendations to mitigate the barriers for group work included the necessity of short term, cost-effective, ongoing crisis interventions that address stabilization and regulation of refugee children’s functioning. The study highlighted the importance of the effectiveness of interventions linked to qualifications of MHPs, designing group interventions that target the secondary trauma of MHPs, and the importance of psychosocial awareness interventions that aim to increase knowledge about refugee rights.","PeriodicalId":39702,"journal":{"name":"Social Work with Groups","volume":"45 1","pages":"319 - 335"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-08-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46978222","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-08-21DOI: 10.1080/01609513.2021.1963389
A. Eaton, Shelley L. Craig, S. Rourke, Teresa L. Sota, John W. McCullagh, B. Fallon, S. Walmsley
ABSTRACT Cognitive impairment is an important comorbidity for people aging with HIV, and group therapy may ameliorate the associated anxiety and stress. Combination psychosocial interventions may have better outcomes than single technique approaches. A pilot, parallel design, two-arm trial randomized people aging with HIV-Associated Neurocognitive Disorder (HAND) to Cognitive Remediation Group Therapy (Experimental; combination of brain training activities and mindfulness-based stress reduction) or Mutual Aid Group Therapy (Control). Outcomes were feasibility, acceptability, fidelity, and exploratory measures of anxiety, stress, coping, and use of mindfulness and brain training activities. Among 40 contacted participants, 15 replied, 12 recruited, and 10 completed. Assessors confirmed intervention delivery with satisfactory fidelity. The novel arm had statistically significant improvements in stress and mindfulness use compared to control, and brain training and mindfulness use sustained at 3-month follow-up. Requiring a HAND diagnosis made recruitment challenging. Further research should broaden eligibility to people aging with HIV and cognitive challenges.
{"title":"Cognitive remediation group therapy compared to mutual aid group therapy for people aging with HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder: randomized, controlled trial","authors":"A. Eaton, Shelley L. Craig, S. Rourke, Teresa L. Sota, John W. McCullagh, B. Fallon, S. Walmsley","doi":"10.1080/01609513.2021.1963389","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01609513.2021.1963389","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Cognitive impairment is an important comorbidity for people aging with HIV, and group therapy may ameliorate the associated anxiety and stress. Combination psychosocial interventions may have better outcomes than single technique approaches. A pilot, parallel design, two-arm trial randomized people aging with HIV-Associated Neurocognitive Disorder (HAND) to Cognitive Remediation Group Therapy (Experimental; combination of brain training activities and mindfulness-based stress reduction) or Mutual Aid Group Therapy (Control). Outcomes were feasibility, acceptability, fidelity, and exploratory measures of anxiety, stress, coping, and use of mindfulness and brain training activities. Among 40 contacted participants, 15 replied, 12 recruited, and 10 completed. Assessors confirmed intervention delivery with satisfactory fidelity. The novel arm had statistically significant improvements in stress and mindfulness use compared to control, and brain training and mindfulness use sustained at 3-month follow-up. Requiring a HAND diagnosis made recruitment challenging. Further research should broaden eligibility to people aging with HIV and cognitive challenges.","PeriodicalId":39702,"journal":{"name":"Social Work with Groups","volume":"45 1","pages":"116 - 131"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-08-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43451968","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-08-09DOI: 10.1080/01609513.2021.1957222
Ajay Saini, Nancy, Andrew Malekoff
ABSTRACT In 2020 editor-in-chief (Andrew Malekoff) issued a special call for papers for group work stories on pandemic 2020. Among the 28 stories accepted for the series there were 16 from India, 9 from the United States, 2 from Canada and 1 from Israel. General submissions from the U.S., Canada and Israel were typical for the journal. Atypical are submissions from India. Rather than publish the stories in one special issue of the Journal, he decided to spread them out over several issues through 2022. In the course of organizing the special series (with a December 2021 deadline) he continued communication with a few of the authors from India, with particular interest and concern in the deteriorating situation as 2021 unfolded. Although the present commentary is not about group work per se, it is an update by Ajay Saini, Nancy and Andrew Malekoff on the current state of affairs in India, with some contrast to the situation in the U.S., that offers continuing context for the stories in the series.
{"title":"India’s covid catastrophe","authors":"Ajay Saini, Nancy, Andrew Malekoff","doi":"10.1080/01609513.2021.1957222","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01609513.2021.1957222","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In 2020 editor-in-chief (Andrew Malekoff) issued a special call for papers for group work stories on pandemic 2020. Among the 28 stories accepted for the series there were 16 from India, 9 from the United States, 2 from Canada and 1 from Israel. General submissions from the U.S., Canada and Israel were typical for the journal. Atypical are submissions from India. Rather than publish the stories in one special issue of the Journal, he decided to spread them out over several issues through 2022. In the course of organizing the special series (with a December 2021 deadline) he continued communication with a few of the authors from India, with particular interest and concern in the deteriorating situation as 2021 unfolded. Although the present commentary is not about group work per se, it is an update by Ajay Saini, Nancy and Andrew Malekoff on the current state of affairs in India, with some contrast to the situation in the U.S., that offers continuing context for the stories in the series.","PeriodicalId":39702,"journal":{"name":"Social Work with Groups","volume":"44 1","pages":"381 - 383"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-08-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43060036","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-07-27DOI: 10.1080/01609513.2021.1952498
Justin E Lerner
ABSTRACT As a white social work instructor and therapist committed to anti-racist practice, I reflect on my experiences teaching group work virtually during a pandemic. I provide an example of how I inadvertently perpetuated white supremacy through a mistake I made in creating groups that isolated students of color. I discuss how I addressed this mistake with the class and worked with the students to co-create an anti-racist and anti-oppressive classroom setting through our group process. I offer strategies for how I will continue to deepen group processes centered in anti-racist practices, such as building trust through transparency, acknowledging mistakes, including opportunities for race caucuses, and creating continual optional check-ins with students of color in order to maximize and center their learning in my courses.
{"title":"“Did you get placed with all white ladies in your group?”: reflections on co-creating an anti-racist social work (virtual) classroom","authors":"Justin E Lerner","doi":"10.1080/01609513.2021.1952498","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01609513.2021.1952498","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT As a white social work instructor and therapist committed to anti-racist practice, I reflect on my experiences teaching group work virtually during a pandemic. I provide an example of how I inadvertently perpetuated white supremacy through a mistake I made in creating groups that isolated students of color. I discuss how I addressed this mistake with the class and worked with the students to co-create an anti-racist and anti-oppressive classroom setting through our group process. I offer strategies for how I will continue to deepen group processes centered in anti-racist practices, such as building trust through transparency, acknowledging mistakes, including opportunities for race caucuses, and creating continual optional check-ins with students of color in order to maximize and center their learning in my courses.","PeriodicalId":39702,"journal":{"name":"Social Work with Groups","volume":"45 1","pages":"46 - 60"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-07-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/01609513.2021.1952498","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49204641","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-07-08DOI: 10.1080/01609513.2021.1939956
A. Johnson
{"title":"Group: How One Therapist and a Circle of Strangers Saved My Life","authors":"A. Johnson","doi":"10.1080/01609513.2021.1939956","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01609513.2021.1939956","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":39702,"journal":{"name":"Social Work with Groups","volume":"45 1","pages":"93 - 94"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-07-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/01609513.2021.1939956","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46688443","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-07-03DOI: 10.1080/01609513.2021.1918465
Andrew Malekoff
The article focuses on the development of this special issue of the journal comes at a time when human beings across the globe are struggling and suffering for a second straight year with the COVID-19 pandemic, marking a century since the world was stricken with another unusually deadly pandemic.
{"title":"FROM THE EDITOR - Special Issue - The Creative Practitioner: An Introduction to Psychodrama, Sociometry and Group Psychotherapy","authors":"Andrew Malekoff","doi":"10.1080/01609513.2021.1918465","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01609513.2021.1918465","url":null,"abstract":"The article focuses on the development of this special issue of the journal comes at a time when human beings across the globe are struggling and suffering for a second straight year with the COVID-19 pandemic, marking a century since the world was stricken with another unusually deadly pandemic.","PeriodicalId":39702,"journal":{"name":"Social Work with Groups","volume":"44 1","pages":"201 - 202"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/01609513.2021.1918465","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42192329","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-07-03DOI: 10.1080/01609513.2021.1918466
S. Skolnik
Psychodrama is a triadic system that incorporates psychodrama, sociometry, and group psychotherapy. It was developed in the first half of the 20th century by Jacob L. Moreno, a physician by training. He believed that a “truly therapeutic procedure cannot have less an objective than the whole of mankind” (1953, p. 3). Group work and psychodrama focus on working with vulnerable populations and strive to use their approaches to empower individuals, groups and communities. Group work and psychodrama have a similar philosophical stance and orientation toward group life. Knowledge of group work and psychodrama techniques can provide group workers with an additional set of intervention strategies to generate positive outcomes for clients and programs. Moreno believed that spontaneity fuels creativity and leads to the creation of a “cultural conserve” or new product or creative act. This past year, the pandemic sparked the psychodrama community’s spontaneity and creativity leading to the rapid and successful transformation of face-to-face psychodrama groups to online platforms. These groups connected people throughout the world experiencing common issues relating to isolation, illness and political upheaval. The articles in this special issue of Social Work with Groups represent the application of psychodrama, sociometry, and group psychotherapy to empower and give voice to diverse populations. It is my hope that this special issue will highlight the synergistic union between group work and psychodrama for readers of the Journal.
{"title":"From the guest editor: the creative practitioner: an introduction to psychodrama, sociometry, and group psychotherapy","authors":"S. Skolnik","doi":"10.1080/01609513.2021.1918466","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01609513.2021.1918466","url":null,"abstract":"Psychodrama is a triadic system that incorporates psychodrama, sociometry, and group psychotherapy. It was developed in the first half of the 20th century by Jacob L. Moreno, a physician by training. He believed that a “truly therapeutic procedure cannot have less an objective than the whole of mankind” (1953, p. 3). Group work and psychodrama focus on working with vulnerable populations and strive to use their approaches to empower individuals, groups and communities. Group work and psychodrama have a similar philosophical stance and orientation toward group life. Knowledge of group work and psychodrama techniques can provide group workers with an additional set of intervention strategies to generate positive outcomes for clients and programs. Moreno believed that spontaneity fuels creativity and leads to the creation of a “cultural conserve” or new product or creative act. This past year, the pandemic sparked the psychodrama community’s spontaneity and creativity leading to the rapid and successful transformation of face-to-face psychodrama groups to online platforms. These groups connected people throughout the world experiencing common issues relating to isolation, illness and political upheaval. The articles in this special issue of Social Work with Groups represent the application of psychodrama, sociometry, and group psychotherapy to empower and give voice to diverse populations. It is my hope that this special issue will highlight the synergistic union between group work and psychodrama for readers of the Journal.","PeriodicalId":39702,"journal":{"name":"Social Work with Groups","volume":"44 1","pages":"203 - 203"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/01609513.2021.1918466","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48414541","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}