SOCIAL WORK

WITH
GROUPS
A Historical
Background
 INTRODUCTION
Games and recreational
activities are what many people
associate with social work
practice with groups.
social work practice with groups
in the country has changed
through the years because of
different events
Before the Sixties:
Socialization Goals
 development of the social work method of working with
groups or “social group work” (henceforth to be simply
referred to as “group work”) may be traced to the
introduction to the socio-civic movements during the
period of American colonial rule.
 These movement included the YMCA (1911), the YWCA
(1926), and the Boy Scouts of the Philippines (1936).
They paved the way for the establishment of agencies
that used groups for personality development and
character- building through wholesome leisure-time or
recreational activities.
 Leadership in these groups was initially carried out by
volunteers until these movements moved into training of
workers along the different agencies’ specific programs.
 Much later, these workers were required by their
agencies to take formal courses in group work.
Many of the first teachers of groups work in
the Philippines were formerly employed in
these socio-civic agencies.
Groups were used for development of
individual through training of skills and
inculcating social values.
Socialization - the process by which people
selectively acquire the values and attitudes of
a group of which they are a part – was the
main goal of group-serving social agencies
during their first decades in the Philippines.
 These agencies’ service-users were organized into
group that participated in wholesome activities such
as arts and crafts, camping, sports, etc., from which
people derived a lot of fun and enjoyment.
 The socialization goals perhaps not fully appreciated
and social work in this field of practice did not seem to
be very attractive to social work graduates.
 The image of group work as leisure-time activities
seems to the very attractive to social work graduates.
 The image of group work as leisure-time activity
seems to have persisted despite the fact that by the
late 1950’s there were already group-serving agencies
like the Philippines Youth Welfare Coordinating
Council using groups for preventive and
developmental goals through leadership and skill
training for out-of- school youth.
 THE SIXTIES
Prevention, treatment,
and Developmental
Goals
 an increasing number of agencies were using the
group method for both preventive and therapeutic
purposes. Mental health agencies like the Special
Child Study Center, Inc. organized parent’ group to
help the participants to understand, accept, and deal
with their children’s conditions.
 At the Philippines Mental health Association, this
writer was a part of a team (consisting of psychiatric
social worker) which conducted group therapy
sessions, including the use of psycho-drama with
emotionally disturbed patients in its Day Care Center.
 A great deal of group work was also undertaken in the
field of government housing and resettlement during
the sixties. Much of the work involved efforts of social
workers in the (then) Department of Social Welfare.
The contribution of some school of social work to
the development of social group work cannot be
overlooked. It is the common knowledge that the
need to provide students with experience in the
use of the method provided some impetus to its
further development particularly in demonstrating
to social agencies other approaches to social
workers in government housing community
centers were University of the Philippines’
graduate social work students who were students
who were persuaded to demonstrate this
developmentally- oriented from of group work.
 While convinced of the relevance of this type of group work, many social
agencies suffered from staff limitations and could embark on innovative
programs only with the placement of field practicum students who could
do the work. Two other examples of this can be cited both of which took
place during the middle up to late sixties: 1. The cooperative endeavor
between the Philippines School of Social Work ( Philippines Women’s
University) and the Philippine Youth welfare Coordinating Council, where
students worked with youth groups for socialization and developmental
goals and the University of the Philippines’ (then) Department of Social
Work ( now College of Social Work and Community Development) and the
St. Luke’s Hospital’s field placement program for social work students
where preventive and developmental goals with poverty- stricken families
being served on an out-patient basis and therapeutic goals with goals with
patients in the hospital’s psychiatric ward were pursued.
FROM 1958 TO 1959
The Philippine Mental Health Association
already had a community outreached
program for the prevention of juvenile
delinquently in selected communities in
the city of Manila. Based on the incidence
of juvenile delinquency in the city, were
able to implemented parent- education
programs that utilized skits and drama
presentation focused on themes related to
the problems of delinquently which were
discussed after each presentation.
The Seventies: Emphasizing
Developmental Goals
 the government’s pursuit of its Developmental plan
was reflected in efforts in the Department of Social
Welfare (which in1976 had become the Department
of Social Service and Development) to undertake
developmental programs and services for the bottom
30-percent of the country’s population.
 Emphasis on developmental social welfare was
spurred by the United Nations’ declaration of the first
developmental Decade in the sixties and the Second
Developmental Decade in the seventies.
 The barangay approach facilitated these efforts i.e.,
the use of the existing political structure, the
barangay, as the workers’ point of entry and the basis
for problem identification and prioritizing. In all these
activities, the group was used as the main instrument
of service.
 During the late sixties and seventies, social workers in
juvenile and domestic relation courts also used
groups to help provide legal offenders with group
experiences aimed at their socialization and / or re-
socialization, while those employed in orphanages
provided their wards with group experiences for
socialization purposes.
 These settings were used for the supervised field work
of social work students who needed be provided with
such kinds of experiences. Socialization and re-
socialization were therefore important concerns but
no longer just through wholesome voluntary leisure-
time activities as was the thrust of the socio – civic
movements in their earlier years.
 The declaration of Martial Law (1972-1981) had
significant effects on social work education and
practice. The period provoked a great deal of
consciousness- raising efforts which were aimed at
making many rural and urban poor citizens realize
that many of their problems (lack of basic amenities
like water, low-cost housing, medical facilities,
employment opportunities, etc.), were due to
deficiencies in their social situations.
 It became clear that to change or modify the nature of
these situations it was imperative for social workers to
help people organize and use themselves as the
major resource.
 Efforts along this line again invariably engaged social
workers in work with small group, or, what is referred
to in the literature as “community group work.”
The Present Scene
most social welfare agencies in the country
offer some type of group service. Many of
these agencies engage in group service not
just for one but for several purposes, e.g.,
developmental, socialization/re-socialization,
and treatment or rehabilitation.
 The developmental purpose emphasizes
human and community resource mobilization.
Examples are public agencies which invest a
major portion of their resources for the
support of livelihood programs.
The socialization purpose is carried out by
organizing groups that are intended primarily
to help the members to acquire the values,
attitudes and norms of the society of which
they are part.
Many public and private agencies and
institutions have programs for street children
and runaways which focus on values formation
using the group mode of service.
 The treatment purpose focuses on the use of the small group
to help individuals who already have a problem or breakdown
in their social functioning.
 many social agencies which organize groups of victims of
natural disasters, child abuse, adult sexual abuse, and drug
abuse. There are also group programs for the terminally ill,
the physically handicapped, patients undergoing kidney
dialysis, etc. many of these programs were served mainly
therapeutic functions
 multi-problem situations of the individual group members,
the practitioner working with the group frequently also
engages in more comprehensive case management
activities, particularly of the kind which address group
members; socio-economic concerns and problems.
Except for the limited pursuit of the
socialization purpose of group work by socio-
civic organizations in the early decades of
their existence in the country (1920-1960s)
and the active pursuit of developmental group
work programs during the seventies, it can be
concluded, based on the turn of events in the
last ten or so years, that has emerged as
predominant.
The varied problems confronting Filipino social
welfare clients indicate the relevance and
responsiveness of group programs which have
developmental, socialization and therapeutic
purposes or goals.