Ethical, Legal, and Cultural Competence in Group Work

A summary of the peer-reviewed journal article

Several articles I viewed, but a particle one drew my attention, which addressed Covid-19 came with its effects that affected nearly every person, small business, and corporates in one way or the other. As the impacts of the pandemic continue to rampage, calls helped address global health-related issues such as depression, anxiety, and divorces, among others that are consuming up many people globally. In addition, depression was at its all-time high in the African adult population.

 

According to Waters et al. (2022), using positive psychology interventions (PPI) and emotional intelligence (EI) to create emotional awareness are among the best approaches that can help relieve the negative impacts of the pandemic. They argue that positive psychological interventions can significantly help buffer against health complications such as mental illness and bolster sustainable mental during and after the Covid-19. The article is about exploring positive processes, ways, and capacities that may help strengthen and sustain people mentally now and in the future. The report investigates evidence and positive psychology abilities that can help reinforce health support during and after the pandemic. They address applications such as coping skills, gratitude, self-compassion, and positive emotions.

 

Though EI and PPI have different research domains, the paper blends them well to complement and contribute to one another. They argue that with the application of the two domains, people can learn to perceive emotion in the sense that each individual will be able to discern honest feelings from inaccurate ones. In addition, the two domains can help people understand emotions and use them to facilitate responsible thoughts, judgment, and memory (Waters et al., 2022). Ultimately, applying EI and positive psychology and actively practicing them will enhance emotional awareness and education, which will boost health and performance.

 

Group Objectives/Goals

Participants will experience a 15% decrease in depression at the end of 10 weeks.

Participants will engage in open discussion 3 times a week for 6 weeks.

Participants will be able to use coping skills learned to decrease depression within 10 weeks.

Outline the practical considerations for the group

 

The size of the group will consist of 10-20 participants; this group would be open processing. The setting is a community base, perhaps a community center that would include 12 months, 1-2 hours sessions for adequate expression and awareness of their emotions. This meeting is face-to-face. A facilitator will oversee the group and take attendance. The facilitator will present the instructions and material for the group, but the participants will be in charge of the meeting. They will be respectful of one another while each shares their experience. Each will share and support one another in the process.

 

We will recruit from the community by word of mouth through companies in collaboration with case managers and by providing community resources, to select members who will make up the group.  The screening process will begin with a questionnaire that will be completed to gather background information and what brings the individual to the group. Initially, intake is about building rapport and creating a welcoming atmosphere. In this process, each person will have a treatment plan to follow, consisting of objectives, goals, and interventions.   In addition, each participant will sign a disclosure statement for privacy, and the goals and purpose of the group will be discussed.

 

Consider potential inclusion and diversity themes, such as how diversity may affect the early group process or how might I address bias

 

During the screening process making one aware of their own bias, For Example, sometimes facilitators screen out individuals due to their own personal dislike or countertransference issues even though these individuals might be appropriate clients for the group (Cory et al., 2018).  Therefore, training the facilitators would be made aware in hopes of not imposing their own biases.

Proposed curriculum or theoretical underpinning that would be appropriate for your group. You will explore strategies for the termination of the group. You also examine ways to measure both the subjective experience and the level of goal attainment by the members of the group.

I will use this strategy when ending the group, we will do a wrap-up where each member reflects on what they learned from the group as well as processes any feelings. 

Also, one way to measure goal attainment is with the use of scaling every participant will complete a 10-question questionnaire to give an index of where their depression is at the beginning of the group and after the last session, the questionnaire will be completed again to see if there has been a decrease in depression.    A survey can be used at the end of the group to measure the subjective experiences of each group member.

References

Waters, L., Algoe, S. B., Dutton, J., Emmons, R., Fredrickson, B. L., Heaphy, E., ... & Steger, M. (2022). Positive psychology in a pandemic: Buffering, bolstering, and building mental health. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 17(3), 303-323.

Jiya Chen, Nusrat Farah, Rebecca Kechen Dong, Richard Z. Chen, Wen Xu, Jin Yin, Bryan Z. Chen, Andrew Yilong Delios, Saylor Miller, Xue Wan, Wenping Ye, & Stephen X. Zhang. (2021). Mental Health during the COVID-19 Crisis in Africa: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(10604), 10604. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182010604\

Corey, M. S., Corey, G., & Corey, C. (2018). Groups: Process and practice. (10th Edition). Cengage Learning.