Choose either your textbook readings or assigned group articles and respond as follows: Readings to supplement tonight’s discussion: Jacobs, Masson, & Harvil (Ch 4, 5, 6, 13, 14) Brown, N. (2009).Theories and their applications. Becoming an effective

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How do I plan a

psychoeducational

group?

Small Group Process for the Health Professional

HLSC 344

Fall 2016

Laurette Olson PhD OTR/L FAOTA

Group Components to plan

 Statement of purpose

 Establish goals

 Setting objectives

 Selection of content

 Designing Exercises

 Evaluating Group Experience

Statement of Purpose

 What is your focus?

 What is your theoretical orientation to your topic?

Theories guide beliefs about how change occurs in

individuals (awareness, knowledge, insight, and

behavior)

 Who are your participants?

 What is the purpose of the group?

 what do you expect participants to gain from

participating (change in thinking feeling,

behavior, reconsidering a value)?

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Establishing Goals

 Derived from your theoretical perspective about

how change will occur. Are you looking to:

 Increase awareness?

 increase knowledge?

 increase insight?

 change behavior?

 Goals and theoretical approach should always

be consistent.

Effective goals: The Group’s

compass

 Reasonable: there is a learning

challenge before the group, but it is

achievable

 Measurable: participants should be able

to self-evaluate their own learning.

Setting Objectives: The Road

Map

 The steps to reach goal over the course

of the group

 Objectives are logically sequenced.

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Selecting Group Content

 Didactic (Interactive lecture: 10-15

minutes)

 Experiential

 Process

Designing Exercises

 Self assessment

 Cognitive restructuring

 Role playing

 Imagery

 Creative arts

 Body awareness

 Homework

Choosing experiential activities

 Grounded in theory; consistent with how

the theory expects change to happen

(awareness, knowledge, insight, and

behavior)

 Example: Time management viewed from

different perscpectives (Furr, 2000, p. 36)

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When there is a series of psycho-

educational group sessions, a

leader must consider the stages

of group development as the

leader chooses activities.

 Intensity should be modulated across group

development. Intensity of activities and

exercises is:

 low in the beginning stages

 Increases in the middle stages

 Decreases as a group prepares for termination.

Jones & Robinson, 2000

Intensity is defined as the extent

to which a group topic, exercise or

technique:

 Evokes anxiety in or among group members.

 Challenges group participants to self disclose

 Increases awareness of self or others.

 Focuses on feelings

 Concentrates on the here and now.

 Focuses on threatening issues

In choosing activities, a leader must

be cognizant of their clients’

readiness to approach certain

activities.

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In planning and choosing activities

appropriate for a group’s stage of

development, a leader:

 Brainstorms group activities appropriate

for the group’s theme.

 Assesses the intensity of each activity.

 Sorts activities based upon the intensity

and most appropriate stage of group

development to leader to introduce

activity.

Process Component of content:

Crucial for transfer of learning

 Helping participants to connect the experiential and didactic group components.

 Processing questions begin at the concrete level and move to a more abstract level where group members consider how they might apply what was discussed and experienced in their lives.

Evaluation

 Process evaluation

 Outcome evaluation

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Pitfalls in Psychoeducational

Group Design

 Too broad a topic

 Time commitment needed for group design process and detail for implementation.

 Choosing exercises and trying to build a session around it.

 Not letting go a favored exercises when they don’t fit stage, goals and/or objectives of a session.

 Losing the balance between process and content: Letting the process dominate over content