Social Science - Sociology Assignment

profilecanada2016
Home>Homework Answsers>Social Science homework help>Sociology homework help

Please see attached file 

  • 4 months ago
  • 10
Report issue
files (2)

WKS7ASSIGNMENT.docx

1

Creating a Supportive Treatment Group for Caregivers: Composition, Contract, and Orientation

WEEK 7 ASSUGNMENT

University

April 11, 2026

Composition and Contract

The Caregiver Stress and Family Conflict Support Group will be a closed treatment group of caregivers of individuals with severe mental illness, dementia or hoarding related impairment. The team will be involved in offering therapeutic care and psychoeducation to caregivers under stress and family conflict as a result of care giving roles. The sample will consist of six to ten adults who are under stress due to care giving roles, and are mostly family members (spouses or adult children). Membership will be voluntary and there will be an open trust-based environment (Toseland & Rivas, 2017).

Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria: The participants should be aged 18 years and either reside or take care of a relative with severe mental illness, dementia or hoarding behaviors. The team is welcoming to all members of various cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds in order to facilitate inclusivity. The following will be used as exclusion criteria: people having acute psychiatric crises, interpersonal violence, or cognitive impairments that will not allow them to participate in the group discussions meaningfully (Corey et al., 2016). This will make sure the group is focused and supportive to the members.

It will be a closed group to build trust and continuity and sessions will be 90 minutes, one a week and ten weeks in duration. The expectations of the contract will include attendance, participation and confidentiality. The frequency, time, and duration are in line with the research on the best group dynamics to treat similar groups (Toseland and Rivas, 2017). It will also be specified in the contract what the group aims at achieving, such as alleviating stress among caregivers, enhancing their communication skills and social support. The objectives match the established needs in the Parker family situation, where the stress of caring and family conflict was aggravated by mental illness and hoarding behaviors (Zhu et al., 2022).

Cultural Competence: Since the subjects are diverse, cultural competence will be one of the elements in group facilitation. The social work practice is focused on cultural awareness and responsiveness especially in situations where the caregivers belong to different cultural groups (Sue and Sue, 2022). To illustrate, cultural perceptions about care giving and mental illness can vary drastically and knowledge of these variations is crucial in a safe and inclusive environment. The recognition and appreciation of various forms of families and practices of care giving will assist the group leader in making sure that each member feels appreciated and acknowledged (Sue and Sue, 2022). The leader of the group will also employ culturally relevant interventions; therefore all the members will be able to interact with the content in a manner that will appeal to their experiences and beliefs.

Orientation

Informed consent, group rules and confidentiality will be discussed during the orientation session. In the initial session, the participants will be told about the boundaries of confidentiality, the lawful and ethical responsibilities of the social worker, including the requirement to report abuse or the risk of self-harm or other people (NASW, 2021). It is important that the participants should know that their disclosures will not be disclosed outside of the group, although, there are some exceptions.

Verbal explanation and signed consent form will be used to get the informed consent. The consent form will specify the group objectives, the group structure, the number of meetings to be held and the group meetings duration and the group leader. Students will be requested to ask questions to make sure that they have a complete idea of the process (Corey et al., 2016). This will make their involvement voluntary and they will be informed of their rights.

Group rules will be developed by the group and members will be given the mandate to develop norms that will foster mutual respect and trust. Behavior expectations (such as speaking one at a time, confidentiality, and I-statements to talk about personal experiences) will be covered by rules. These principles will guarantee a secure and respectful environment where individuals will be able to share their issues and feelings concerning caregiving (Toseland and Rivas, 2017). The leader of the group will also note that nonjudgmental listening is essential because stress experienced by caregivers is usually coupled with intense emotional and social issues, especially when it comes to families that have to deal with mental health crises (Liu et al., 2020).

References

Corey, G., Corey, M. S., & Corey, C. (2016). Groups: Process and practice (10th ed.). Cengage Learning.

Liu, Z., Heffernan, C., & Tan, J. (2020). Caregiver burden: A concept analysis. International Journal of Nursing Sciences, 7(4), 438–445. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnss.2020.07.012

National Association of Social Workers. (2021). Code of ethics of the National Association of Social Workers. https://www.socialworkers.org/About/Ethics/Code-of-Ethics/Code-of-Ethics-English

Sue, D. W., & Sue, D. (2022). Counseling the culturally diverse: Theory and practice (9th ed.). Wiley.

Toseland, R. W., & Rivas, R. F. (2017). An introduction to group work practice (8th ed.). Pearson.

Zhu, L., Heffernan, C., & Tan, J. (2022). Caregiver burden: A concept analysis. International Journal of Nursing Sciences, 9(3), 301–308.