Sally H. Barlow

A Systematic Program to Enhance Clinician Group Skills in an Inpatient Psychiatric Hospital

Abstract This article describes the collaborative effort of a team of discipline directors, administrators, and academicians to create a systematic program to enhance the group competencies of a large clinical staff working at a state hospital. The effects of the program were tested by a quasi-experimental field study. Quantitative measures of group process provided limited support for program effectiveness. Stronger support came from qualitative inquiry. The development and effectiveness of the program is examined within a larger context of group programs housed in large health care organizations.

Religion and mental health from the mormon perspective

Publisher Summary This chapter explores the religion and mental health from the Mormon perspective. People believe in the saving grace of religion, in particular the salvation offered by Jesus Christ, as restored through Prophet Joseph Smith. Among Mormon communities, those are part of a cultural overlay that has some distinctions and some similarities to the potentially pathogenic features shared by other religions. Sometimes the appropriate aid of a psychotherapist restores the individual to his or her community with a new sense of self and an increased ability to relate to others and to God. This is especially true if therapists who respect religious concerns by finding out about the particular religious system and carefully discern constructive cultural belief from manifestations of psychopathology. Therapists acknowledge boundary issues by adhering not only to ethical guidelines regarding dual roles but also, when appropriate, enlisting the support of religious leaders in the clients community when permission is given. They also promote therapeutic interventions that encourage client skill-building without contradicting their own sense of morals and the ways to understand client spiritual experiences, including accounts of personal revelation that are not automatically attributed to thought disorder. And finally, therapists encourage the development of individuation and appropriate ego skills, including altruism. Such steps ensures the adequate care of and appropriate service to Latter-Day Saints (LDS) or Mormons clients and the larger religious community.

A Strategic Three-Year Plan to Teach Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced Group Skills

How do we teach the complicated, multilayered skills of group work? These skills contain exponentially more variables to track than individual therapy training, and yet most graduate programs spend only a fraction of time on groups, giving the majority of class time to individual therapy. Such real-time constraints and the ever-present problem of potential dual role issues in mental health training programs, where we are attempting to teach skills as well as personal awareness, combine to thwart future group leaders. However, given the enormous power of groups run well, doctoral training programs could consider layering the teaching of these skills over a few years. These skills could be identified as they occur in other courses; for instance, all classes are groups themselves. If over an amount of time classes strategically cover experiential, pedagogical, observational, and supervisory skills, students will be on their way to expertise in group skills.

Leader Communication Style Effects on Members of Small Groups

The proliferation of small group applications in a wide range of settings has brought about the identification of the small group phenomenon as a powerful human growth experience. Researchers have studied the group from a global view, including its developmental growth, the specific effects of composition, self-disclosure of members, and member interaction. Critics of group research (Bednar and Lawlis, 1971; Bednar and Kaul, 1978) call for a research focus on experimental studies that measure group interaction rather than characteristics of the total group. Responsive to this request and to the counseling question of &dquo;Who affects whom and how?&dquo;, this research centered on leader impact in small group interactions. Shift in focus from group process per se to leader and member behaviors resulted in research interest in leader impact. The literature concerning trainer impact has been relatively

Group psychotherapy specialty practice.

Group psychotherapy (mental health treatment-focused interventions based in social psychological research on group dynamics) is a growing specialization within psychology, not yet fully recognized by the public and the professional community. This article aims to inform the reader about the multiple components of training, practice, and research. Many graduate programs are teaching fewer group courses than ever before despite the fact that groups are being utilized increasingly in many settings. As defined, group specialty practice covers small, medium, and large groups led by expert leaders or coleaders specifically trained in group intervention skills, which are based on a rich history. Group typologies range from prevention and education to growth, counseling, or psychotherapy (although some controversy exists regarding definitions). Still, a consensus exists that it has more to do with who the members are and in what settings groups occur. Group practice is well-established given the extant evidence-based research, the depth and breadth of its utilization, and professional organizations—such as the Council of Specialties and the American Board of Professional Psychology—that officially recognize group practice.

Essential theory, processes, and procedures for successful group psychotherapy: Group cohesion as exemplar

With few exceptions or at the very least cautions (cf. Burlingame, MacKenzie & Strauss, 2003) group psychotherapy has proven to be an effective and efficient treatment for a number of psychological disorders (Burlingame, Kapetanovic, & Ross, 2005). This article will briefly describe a theory that underlies successful group therapies. In addition, certain group processes—those elements that occur during the group itself that appear to be necessary conditions for improved patient outcomes—will also be addressed, although unfortunately, the sufficient conditions tying moment-to-moment process to actual outcome (improved patient functioning by the end of therapy, and at 6-month follow-up, for instance) are not quite as easily delineated. A closer study of the group therapeutic factor cohesion will be utilized as an example of these practice and research dilemmas. Finally, suggestions for future directions, which might more clearly uncover important connections between process and outcome, are addressed.