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Social Work with Groups and Communities
Click on each question to check your answer.
1. One group can look very different from the next, depending on the purpose of the group and its composition. What is the main difference between a treatment and a task group?
A treatment group focuses primarily on socio-emotive or behavioural needs of participants. A task group focuses on completing a specific assignment or goal for a clientele, organization, or community.
2. What is the main characteristic that distinguishes support groups from self-help groups?
The main characteristic distinguishing support groups from self-help groups is leadership. Support groups are professionally led while self-help groups are peer led or led by someone with professional training who shares the issue the group shares.
3. In what way might being a group leader be challenging for a new social worker?
Being the leader of a social work group can be intimidating for a new social worker with limited experience facilitating groups. Social workers who are new to group practice may feel as though they need to have sole responsibility for everything that happens in the group.
4. What role does a group leader play in a psychoeducational group?
Psychoeducational groups combine the goal of an educational group (to impart knowledge) and support. The group leader acts as a teacher and provider of structure for group discussion.
5. How does the level of disclosure differ between a socialization group and a therapy group?
The purpose of socialization groups is to learn through modelling in order to improve communication, social skills, and interpersonal relationships through activities, structured exercises, role plays, and so forth. Self-disclosure is relatively limited. Therapy groups are typically highly interactive, where members often take responsibility for communicating their insights and observations of one another in the group. Thus, self-disclosure is moderate to high.
6. In what ways can social location have an impact on group processes?
One’s social location shapes interactions with others, either consciously or unconsciously. For example, if there is a group meeting where the participants are predominantly from one group, the presence of someone from a different group may alter the group dynamics. This can also apply to a situation where a group leader’s social location is seen as vastly different from participants’. Group facilitators must be self-reflective and aware of their own biases, which can reduce the potential that behaviours considered culturally based are misrepresented as problematic.
7. What are some ways community has been defined?
Community can be defined by geography, identity, interest, or any combination of the three. Communities could be physically constructed entities such as members of a neighbourhood, municipality, or other geographic region, or a collection of people connected through shared identities, interests, and experiences (e.g., ethnicity). Recent conceptualizations of community include those that build community in virtual settings or “e-communities,” such as for online learning or support.
8. What is the social planning mode of community practice? How is it different from the social action mode of community practice?
The social planning mode of community practice focuses on the technical aspects of problem-solving. This approach relies on the analysis of statistical data, needs assessments, and other community-based evaluations to determine community needs. The social action mode of practice assumes the presence of a marginalized group that could be organized to bring about change in the broader community to increase resources and demand equal treatment. Social action’s focus is on organizing community members to mobilize and defend their rights through fundamental social change.