HELPING PROCESS IN
information he has been getting,
SOCIAL WORK WITH
GROUPS
Helping Process in Social Work with Groups
Beginning Phase:
1. Assessment
2. Planning
Middle Phase
1. Plan Implementation
Ending Phase
1. Evaluation
2. Termination
PRE-GROUP FORMATION
Conceptualizing the Group Service
Announcing the Group Service and recruiting
members
Preparing Logistics
Enlisting community support
Individual Focused Assessment and Planning
 Involves information gathering and
information-gathering and analysis
towards an understanding and
consequently a definition of the need or
problem of the client
 Pre-group Interviews/Intake – done
prior to group formation.
Individual client’s profile: (should contain
the following information)
 Name and other basic identifying
information
 Need(s)/concerns/problems relevant to
the group program
 Strengths/resources and limitations, if
any
 Worker’s observations /comments
Case Assessment/Problem Definition
Referred to as “social study” , “social
diagnosis”, “problem definition”,. And
“assessment” - as a process and a product of
understanding on which action is based.
ACTION-PLANNING
Is based on assessment and is the outcome of
assessment
Includes the following steps:
a) Formulating goals
b) Establishing specific helping plans
Group-Focused Assessment and Planning
 group level assessment and planning
may be said to start even before the
group is convened. (because as the
worker does the pre-group interviews
with each prospective group member, he
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is “processing” in his mind the
thinking about who will be in which
group, what problem or concern will be
likely addressed, and what activities
may have to be undertaken.)
GROUP COMPOSITION
1.1 selection of members (based on
compatibility or complementarity and not
identity
1.2 size of the group (4 to 15 more or
less)
2. GROUP FORMATION
Should discuss the following impt matters:
 Common group concern/problem
 Norms and rules
 Schedule and venue of group sessions
 Group goals
1. members’ perspectives ( own views,
perceptions, motivations needs, and
purposes of individual members)
2. worker’s perspectives
3. group system perspective: Group Goals
“Group system goals” according to Schopler
and Galinsky
PROGRAM MEDIA
 Refers to the activities , verbal or non-
verbal which the group engages in for
the purpose of achieving its goals
Uses of program media:
 Modify or change attitudes and
behavior
 Promote individual values such as
emotional and intellectual growth
 Influence group climate
 Promote group interaction, etc.
PLAN IMPLEMENTATION
 Refers to all activities, worker
intervention and group action which
the group system directs towards
the achievement of goals (Boehm)
EVALUATION
Can mean any of the following:
 Regular or periodic – meaning on-
going evaluation of actions taken
during plan implementation
 Terminal evaluation – follows
implementation and is done primarily
to assess the outcome of the helping
efforts
 Summative evaluation – evaluation
that is concerned with outcomes or
effectiveness;
 Formative evaluation - evaluation
that is concerned with looking at the
process of the work.
Records as evaluation tools:
> The following are records that the group
worker must write and keep:
1. pre-group /intake interviews
2. Individual case assessments
3. Statements to group concerns/problems,
group goals and plans (for group in-
session and extra-group session)
4. Attendance records
5. Process or summary recordings of group
sessions
6. Records of marginal interviews (i.e.
interviews with members outside group
sessions)
7. Records of collateral interviews /
interviews with “significant others”
8. Evaluation records (i.e, individuals,
group)
9. Transfer /closing summaries
TERMINATION
 The final step in the helping process
 Done when the goals for the client have
been substantially achieved;
 there is no reason to expect that any
more significant gains can be achieved
by extending the helping relationship;’
 Or very little progress or movement
toward the achievement of agreed-on
goals for the individual /or the group;
 After having done one’s best and it’s
clear that the worker is not getting there.
Hartford describes the following parts of
termination:
 Pre-termination- the period of
preparation for the actual ending which
can include the acknowledgment that the
group is about to end.
 Termination – the last actual session
 Post-termination – follow up plans
which can be done on either an
individual or on a group basis
Theoretical Models/Approaches in working
with groups
Theoretical Models/Approaches
1. The Developmental Approach (Emanuel
Tropp)
2. The Crisis-Centered Approach
3. Remedial Approach (Robert D. Vinter)
4. An Interactionist Approach (William
Schwartz)
5. Organization Model
6. Psychosocial Approach
7. Socialization Model
8. Task-Centered Approach
1. THE DEVELOPMENTAL APPROACH
(EMANUEL TROPP)
 Traces its roots to Grace Coyle’s
writings which underscores collective
self-help as the theme of group work,
on which is derived the first principle
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of the approach: self- direction
toward a common goal is the most
effective vehicle for the social
growth of its members.
 People are not seen as being sick or
healthy, but on a scale ranging from
-
 socially functional (adequate), to
dysfunctional (inadequate), to
 eufunctional (optimum)…
continually able to move up this
scale in a life-long developmental
process of self-realization.
BASIC CHARACTERISTICS:
1. It is humanistic. The worker and group
share one over-riding characteristic –
common human condition; the group’s
common purpose and integrity as a group
are respected by the worker.
2. It is phenomenological. Its crucial focus
is on what is happening currently, in the
life situation in or outside the group, or in
both.
3. It is developmental. It sees people as
being continually able to move forward in
a life-long process of self-realization, or
fulfillment of potential in social
functioning.
THE WORKER HAS THREE BASIC
AREAS OF OPERATION:
1. the group goal-achieving process;
2. interpersonal relations;
Instrumental behaviors – those
consciously directed toward common
goal efforts;
Expressive behaviors - unintended
behaviors which are emotional in
nature that individual members
manifest in the course of performing
instrumental behaviors. (likes and
dislikes, approval and disapproval,
concern for others, apathy, fear, etc…
3. individual self- actualization
2. REMEDIAL APPROACH OR SOCIAL
TREATMENT MODEL BY: ROBERT D.
VINTER
 Target to benefit from this model are
those who are headed toward
deviant paths unless given timely
attention.
 A distinguishing characteristic of
this model is its interactional view of
deviance. (i.e., actions between
persons constitute a series of
interactions which shape and
sustain behavioral patterns. The
judgments and responses of others
must be regarded as crucial features
of all behavioral patterns.)
REMEDIAL MODEL :VINTER
  The deviant is not the only target
for intervention but also those
individuals and groups with whom
this person is in frequent contact.
 The group is both a “means for
treatment and a context for
treatment.”
 As a means- it serves as a vehicle
through which peer interactions and
influences are used to affect
change;
 As a context, it provides
opportunities for direct worker-
client interactions which can
contribute to change.
VINTER’S TREATMENT SEQUENCE:
 Intake
 Diagnosis and Treatment
 Group Composition and Formation
 Group Development and Treatment
 Evaluation and Termination
VINTER’S STRATEGY OF
INTERVENTION
A. Direct Means of Influence : there is a
face-to-face contact between the
worker and the group member to
effect.
B. Indirect Means of Influence :
interventions that modify group
conditions affecting one or more
group members i.e., they are
employed to influence the group so
that they, in turn influence the
members.
1) group purposes or treatment goals
for the group
2) selection of group members
3) nature of group activities
4) size of group
C. Extra Group Means of Influence:
includes outside activities conducted on
behalf of clients.
1) social roles and relations of clients prior
to client status.
2) “Significant Others” – refers to those
persons outside of the treatment group who
have crucial relations with clients
3) social systems of which clients are
members
4) Social environment of the treatment
group
Extra group relations - “refers to the
behavior or attitudes of persons in the client’s
social environment or to large social systems
within which both clients and others occupy
statuses”
3. THE INTERACTIONIST
APPROACH: WILLIAM
SCHWARTZ
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 There is a symbiotic relationship
between people and their
environment, and therefore the
function of social work is to “mediate
the process through which the
individual and society reach out to
each other through a mutual need for
self-fulfillment.”
Diagram showing the mediating function of
Social Work
 The group is seen as mutual aid
group that is focused on a specific
problem or problems .
 The group in this approach has four
major features:
1) The group is a collective in which people
face and interact with each other;
2) The people need each other for certain
specific purposes;
3) People come together to work on
common tasks, and
4) The work is embedded in a relevant
agency function.
4. Crisis Intervention Approach
Used with individuals, groups and
communities, that are in a state of
disequilibrium because of a crisis they have
experienced.
A crisis is an “upset in a steady state”, an
emotional reaction on the part of the
individual, family, or group to a threatening
life event.
4. CRISIS INTERVENTION
APPROACH
 Crisis is a temporary disturbance in
one’s equilibrium resulting in the
immobilization of problem-solving
abilities and other aspects of daily
functioning. It is not a considered a
disease or pathology , but a part of the
normal growth process.
 Crisis intervention - is a process for
actively influencing the psychosocial
functioning of individuals, families
and groups during a period of acute
disequilibrium.
  Crisis intervention involves crisis-
oriented, time limited: making help
available within 24 to 72 hours of
the request or “cry for help.”
 No intake procedures, and no
waiting lists, not transfer of workers
 The assessment-Planning-
Intervention sequence is not always
followed because of urgency of the
need.
 Participation in the helping process
is usually voluntary.
 Most crisis states are limited to 4 to
6 weeks , a maximum of 6 sessions
of crisis intervention.
Two major goals of crisis intervention are:
 To cushion the immediate impact of
the disruptive, stressful event(s), and
 To help those directly affected as well
as significant others in the social
environment mobilize and use their
psychosocial capabilities,
interpersonal skills, and social
resources for coping adaptively with
the effects of stress. \
Golan presents two categories of tasks
involved in Crisis Intervention which may be
carried out concurrently:
1) Material –arrangement tasks (provision
of concrete assistance and services)
2) Psychosocial tasks (concerned with
dealing with client’s feelings, doubts,
ambivalences, anxieties and despair )
 Target population:
1. Individuals in crisis (e.g. victims or
rape and domestic violence)
2. Those in collective crisis (e.g. victims
of natural disasters)
3. Those associated with persons in crisis
(e.g. professionals and volunteers
helping people in crisis)
THE FOUR STEP APPROACH IN GROUP
CRISIS INTERVENTION
Step 1: The search for the Precipitating Event
and its Meaning to the Client
 When did the discomfort begin, or
when did the client start feeling worse?
 What recent change represents a
threat to instinctual needs, or a
threatened or actual loss of a
significant role or relationship?
 What reminders have there been of a
previous situation?
 Why is the client coming for help now?
Step II: The Search for Coping Means
Utilized by the Client
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 What has the client tried to do to cope
with the stress produced by the
precipitating event ?
 What means of coping did the client
use in the past to cope with similar
situations?
 Why is there a lack of “fit” between
the particular dilemma (problem-to-
be-solved) and the coping means the
client has employed?
Step III: The Search for Alternative Ways of
Coping that Might better Fit the Current
Situation
 What different approaches to
modifying the problem might be
feasible to try out?
 What outside resources might be
needed and tapped for helping to
resolve the problem/dilemma?
 What new plan for action can be tested
now?
CRISIS INCIDENT STRESS
DEBRIEFING (CISD)
 Is a form of crisis intervention that
has been found helpful to many
Filipinos in collective crisis caused by
natural disasters like earthquakes and
floods.
 It has also been used with human
service providers who are the
‘hidden victims” of the crisis
experienced by their clients.
CISD IS APPLIED AFTER A ” CRITICAL
INCIDENT” has occurred.
CISD
 Is a preventive stress management
strategy designed to assist affected
people in handling normal severe
stress. The affected people are
victims , who may be classified as:
1. Direct victims: those injured or
hurt, or who escaped harm;
2. Indirect victims: family, friends
and others identifying with the
direct victims;
3. Hidden victims: the crisis
workers, helpers or rescuers who
are “silent sufferers” though not
directly affected by the crisis.
ORGANIZATIONAL MODEL
 This model emphasizes the
organizational context of practice;
 Social workers are employed for
people:
1) in social transition (provide service to
people in the midst of transition from one
status to anther;
2) Emphasis is anomie reduction and
socialization ,
3) for people in the midst of social conflict
PSYCHOSOCIAL APPROACH
 Its distinguishing characteristic is its
psychosocial orientation i.e., emphasis is
on the relationships between psychological
and social forces and the interaction between
the person, the small group of which he/she
is a member, and the environment.
 Aimed at prevention and enhancement as
well as restoration or rehabilitation, and is
therefore applicable to persons with actual
or potential problems in psychosocial
functioning.

SOCIALIZATION MODEL
 The major problem focus is inadequate
opportunity for role-learning in the social
network.
 The social worker’s challenge is to
provide opportunities for changed role
performance and interactions in
new/unusual situations .
 The GOAL: is social competence through
teaching and learning in social roles
(those which all adults are expected to
assume in their families, work groups,
and communities).

TASK-CENTERED APPROACH
 TCA is brief and time-limited for
problems of daily living.
 Its intervention is concentrated on
alleviating specific problems which
the client and the practitioner agree
to work upon.
 “Task” – is what the client is to do
to alleviate the problem, and
represents both an immediate goal
the client is to pursue, and the
means of achieving larger goal of
problem alleviation.

Helping Models