SOCIAL WORK PRACTICE WITH GROUPS

SWRK 110

PREPARED BY: MS. MA. CATHERINE A. BACOR, RSW

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
OF GROUP WORK AS A
METHOD IN SOCIAL WORK
 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:
Define concepts on working with groups as it applies to social
work practice;
Manifest appreciation of the historical development of group
work and its influence on the growth of group work practice in
the Philippines;
Examine the relationship of the different concepts to policy and
program delivery; and
Discuss the generalist concepts of social group work practice.
SOCIAL WORK METHODS
GROUP WORK
 TRECKER
As a method, we mean an orderly,
systematic, planned way of working
with people in groups.
 DE GUZMAN
A process and a method through which
individuals in groups are helped by a
worker to relate themselves to other people
and to experience growth opportunities in
consonance with their needs and capacities.
 Mary Parker Follett John Dewey
Mary Ellen Richmond
Emma Robarts was a British Christian activist who formed a group known as the
Prayer Union. The organization combined in 1877 with an organization created by
Mary Jane Kinnaird to form the Young Women's Christian Association .
 SETTLEMENT HOUSES
Early settlement houses sought to improve
housing, health and living conditions, find
jobs for workers, teaching English, hygiene
and occupational skills and improve living
conditions through neighborhood
cooperative efforts.
The techniques used in settlement houses to
effect change are now called social group
work, social action and community
organization.
Toynbee Hall is the first settlement house
established in London in 1884, many
others followed in large cities in the USA.
Many of the early settlement house
workers were daughters of ministers;
usually from middle and upper class
families.
 SETTLEMENT HOUSES
JANE ADDAMS: was the most noted leader in
the settlement house movement in the USA.
At the age of 25, she joined the Presbyterian
Church which helped her find a focus for her
life: religion, humanitarianism and serving the
poor.
She studied the approach of the Toynbee Hall.
 HULL HOUSE
Hull House Social Science Club studied
social problems in a scientific manner and
then became involved in social action efforts
to improve living conditions.
The group worked successfully for the
passage of the Illinois legislations to prevent
the employment of children in sweatshops.
 HULL HOUSE
The success of Hull House served as model
for the establishment of other settlement
houses in the other areas in Chicago and
many large cities in the USA.
Settlement House workers believed that by
changing neighborhoods, they could improve
communities, and by altering communities,
they could develop a better society.
 JANE ADDAMS
For her extraordinary contributions,
Jane Addams received the Nobel
for Peace in 1931.
 SOCIAL WORK WITH GROUPS
IN THE PHILIPPINES
Before the 60s: Socialization Goals
 may be traced to the introduction of socio-economic
movements during the American rule such as:
YMCA -1911
YWCA -1926
Boy Scouts of the Philippines. – 1936
Paved the way for the establishment of agencies that used
groups for personality development and character building
through wholesome leisure time and recreational activities.
 SOCIAL WORK WITH GROUPS
IN THE PHILIPPINES
By the late 50s, there were already those that
were group-serving agencies like the Phil. Youth
Welfare Coordinating Council using groups for
preventive and developmental through
leadership and skills training for the OSY.
In family welfare agencies like the Foster
Parents Plan, Inc.- mothers were organized to
promote responsible parenthood, vocational
efficiency and vocational training.
SOCIAL WORK WITH GROUPS
IN THE PHILIPPINES
1958-1959, the Phil. Mental Health
Association already had a community
outreach program for the prevention of
juvenile delinquency in selected
communities in the City of Manila
The Sixties: Prevention, Treatment, and
Developmental Goals
 SOCIAL WORK WITH GROUPS
IN THE PHILIPPINES
Mental health agencies like the Special
Child Study Center, Inc. - organized
parents’ groups to help the participants to
understand, accept, and deal with their
children’s conditions.
At the Phil. Mental Association –
conducted group therapy sessions, using
psycho-drama with emotionally disturbed
patients in its day care center
 SOCIAL WORK WITH GROUPS
IN THE PHILIPPINES
Field of govt housing and resettlement during
the sixties – social workers of the DSWD formed
tenants associations in the housing area, identified
common problems and formed small groups each
dealt with a particular problem: Examples: OSY –
would address problems of unemployment, idleness,
lack of skills, etc
SOCIAL WORK WITH GROUPS
Mothers’ group – addressing problems
relating to child care, household
management, and family planning.
 Contribution of some schools of social
work in the development of social group
work was also well recognized. Among
the first social workers in the govt.
housing were graduates of the UP, Phil.
School of Social Work/PWU, in its field
placement program.
Also St. Luke’s Hospital’s field
placement of students who engaged
in developmental and preventive
goals with poverty-stricken families
on an out-patient bases;
therapeutic goals with patients in
the psychiatric ward were pursued.
 SOCIAL WORK WITH GROUPS

The seventies : Emphasizing

development goals
1976: Dept. of Social Welfare
became DSSD, to undertake
development programs and
services for the bottom 30% of the
country’s population.
 SOCIAL WORK WITH GROUPS
Emphasis on the developmental social welfare
was spurred by the UN Declaration of the:
First Development Decade - 1960s
Second Development Decade – 1970s
Implemented self-employment assistance,
leadership training, day care, responsible
parenthood, family life education programs,
Barangay Approach - facilitated these efforts
Worker as the point of entry
Group was used as the main instrument of
service.
SOCIAL WORK WITH GROUPS
In the late sixties and seventies:
social workers in the juvenile and
domestic relations courts also used
groups to help provide legal offenders
with group experiences aimed at their
socialization and/or re-socialization.
SOCIAL WORK WITH GROUPS

Social workers employed in the

orphanages provide their wards with
group experiences for their
socialization purposes.
 SOCIAL WORK WITH GROUPS

The declaration of Martial Law

(1972-1981)provoked a great deal of consciousness-
raising efforts aimed at making many rural and urban
realize that many of their problems (lack of basic
amenities such as water, low-cost housing, medical
facilities, employment, etc.) were due to deficiencies
in their social situations.
It was therefore imperative for social workers to help
people organize and use themselves as major
resource (referred to in the literatures as
“community group work”.
 SOCIAL WORK WITH GROUPS
The Present Scene:

Most agencies today serve not just for

one but several purposes:
1)developmental,
2) socialization/re-socialization, and
3) treatment or rehabilitation.
 SOCIAL WORK WITH GROUPS
Developmental purpose –
emphasizes human and community
resource mobilization.
Examples: public agencies which invest
a major portion of their resources for the
support of livelihood programs, training
for leadership and small-scale business
management, make decisions on the
livelihood projects to be undertaken; day
care centers.
SOCIAL WORK WITH GROUPS
Socialization purpose –
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 a part.
Examples: programs for street children,
probation offices and correctional
institutions
SOCIAL WORK WITH GROUPS

Treatment purpose –
Focuses on the use of the small group to help
individuals who already have a problem or
breakdown in their social functioning.
Examples: social agencies organizing groups
of victims of natural disasters, child abuse,
adult sexual abuse, drug abuse, for the
terminally ill, physically handicapped, cancer
survivors, etc.
 SOCIAL WORK WITH GROUPS
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 in
1920 to1960s, and the active pursuit of
developmental group work programs in the
seventies, it can be concluded in the last
ten years or so, that there is no one group
work purpose that has emerged as
predominant.
 SOCIAL WORK WITH GROUPS:
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The 60’s The 70’s Emphasizing

Before the 60’s
Socialization Goals
YMCA (1911)
YWCA (1926)
Boy Scout of the Philippines ( 1936)
Personality Development
Character Building
Leisure time
Recreational Activities
Formal courses in group work
Philippine Youth Welfare Coordinating Council
Foster Parents Plan Ins.
Philippine Mental Health Association ( 1958-1959 )
Prevention, Treatment, Developmental Goals
and Developmental Goals
1976: DSW-DSSD
UN Declaration:
Special Child Study Center 60’s- 1st devt. decade
Philippine Mental Health Association 70’s- 2nd devt. decade
Housing and Resettlement ( Department of Social Welfare ) Increased Productivity
Tenant’s Associations in the housing area Barangay Approach
OSY’s, Heads of Households, Mother’s Group Juvenile and domestic relations courts
Socio-economic Orphanages
Livelihood Programs Martial Law ( 1972 to 1981 )
UP Graduate Social Work Students ( 1st social group workers in “ Community group work”
government housing community centers)
PWU-PYWCC ( Youth groups )
Poverty Stricken Families ( developmental: out-patient )
Psychiatric ward ( therapeutic goals)

Socialization
Process which people
selectively acquire the values
and attitudes of the groups of Developmental
which they are a part- was the Emphasizes human and Treatment
main goal of group-serving community resource Focuses on the use of the small group
social agencies during their first mobilization. to help individuals who already have a
decades in the country. problem or breakdown in their social
functioning.
 ASYNCHRONOUS ACTIVITY

Group Activity:

List all the social work agencies that , to your

knowledge, offer group-oriented programs and services.
Classify these agencies/programs according to the goals
being pursued- e.g., developmental, socialization,
treatment. Explain/comment on your findings.

Deadline: September 18, 2021 @ 5:00 PM

 REFERENCES
Book Sources:

Arnigo, R., Escultura, F., & Galia, E. (2018 ). Social work review handouts. PCU, Manila

Mendoza, T.L. (2015). Social work with groups. Quezon, City: Central Book Supply, Inc.

Online Sources:

A brief history ( 2015 ).https://ywca.ie/about-us/brief-history/

An introduction to teams and groups (2011 ).https://www.skillsyouneed.com/ips/groups.html

Smith, Mark K. (2008, 2018). ‘What is a group?’, The encyclopedia of pedagogy and informal education. [www.infed.org/mobi/what-is-a-
group/. Retrieved: September 2021].

Website links for Images:

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THANK YOU!