W6 - psychoeducation groups

Question 1

Psychoeducation

Answer 1

• refers to the process of imparting information to those seeking or receiving mental health services, such as people diagnosed with mental health disorders or life-threatening/terminal illnesses and their family members.
• Drawing on education methods, psychoeducation groups aim to broaden participants’ knowledge about a particular topic and to upskill group members with effective coping skills (Brown, 1997)

Question 2

Psychoeducation groups

Answer 2

• primarily educational and emphasise skills training rather than self-awareness and self-understanding.
• predominately focused on cognitive and behavioural issues rather than interpersonal communication and relationship issues.
• Thus, one disadvantage of psychoeducation groups can be that they tend to minimise interpersonal processes and member participation due to their greater degree of structure

Question 3

Examples of purposes of psychoeducation groups

Answer 3

• Assisting individuals to recognise unhealthy or self-damaging behaviours.
• Helping group members to learn about their disorder or illness.
• Providing family members with an understanding of the behaviour of a person in recovery.
• Advising group members about other resources and skills that can assist in their recovery

Question 4

Types of psychoeducation groups

Answer 4

• prevention groups
• task groups
• guidance groups
• work training groups
• social skill groups

Question 5

How are psychoeducation groups distinct from process oriented groups?

Answer 5

*look up image

Question 6

Depending on the purpose psychoeducation groups may vary by

Answer 6

• Need for intervention
• Structured versus unstructured
• Developmental versus remedial
• Open versus closed

Question 7

Need for intervention dimension

Answer 7

• Prevention groups assume that the problematic behaviour, illness, or circumstance has not yet manifested, but there is a recognised need for increasing group members’ knowledge, which can help to minimise risk.
• Remediation groups, on the other hand, assume that there is a deficit which has resulted in negative relational, self-satisfaction, self-efficacy, and self-confidence outcomes due to ineffective behaviours, attitudes, or skills.
• > Once the deficit has been identified, specific remedial procedures are implemented. Examples of remedial groups are self-help groups, anger management groups, and groups focused on building self-esteem (Brown, 2004)

Question 8

Structure groups

Answer 8

• In structured groups, the facilitator selects the activities, each of which has a particular goal or learning objective.
• Handouts and worksheets are frequently employed to facilitate learning. Group members have minimal involvement in selecting objectives and tasks

Question 9

Unstructured groups

Answer 9

• The facilitator (if there is one) does minimal structuring; usually, just enough to get the group started and ensure the members’ objectives are addressed.
• It is the group members who then make most of decisions about what they will do.
• > Few, if any, paper-and-pencil activities are used. Self-help groups are a good example of an unstructured group (Brown, 2004)

Question 10

Developmental versus remedial

Answer 10

• Developmental groups build on members’ strengths, whereas remedial groups focus on overcoming weaknesses or deficits.
• Developmental groups are preventative, though are not limited to prevention.
• Capitalising on existing strengths is much easier than remediating deficiencies.
• > Examples of remediation groups include social skills training and conflict mediation groups, as members of these groups typically display deficiencies in the applicable areas

Question 11

Open versus closed

Answer 11

• Open groups usually meet over an extended period of time, with changing membership. That is, some members leave and new ones are admitted.
• Closed groups can also meet over an extended time period, but as members leave, no new ones are admitted.
• > Groups that are short-term are usually closed.
• > Support groups, skills training groups, and discussion groups are examples of open groups.
• A challenge of facilitating primary groups is making new members feel welcome, as the new member is faced with the task of integrating into an already existing group

Question 12

Low level of learning

Answer 12

• the facilitator must do more directing and structuring.
• Decisions about what to do and how to do it are beyond members’ capabilities at this point.
• All participants are dealing with issues of safety, trust, inclusion and competence, regardless of their level of education or experience.
• Explaining, clarifying, and reflecting are useful for reducing ambiguity and answering unasked or indirect questions about the real issues.
• Some members may be so fearful that they never move beyond this level. The facilitator should not push them nor expect more than they can do

Question 13

Low to moderate level of learning

Answer 13

• Members appear willing to give the facilitator and the process a chance to meet their needs.
• Participation is still tentative and there is an air of wariness, but many members mask these feelings and wear a facade of cooperativeness and involvement.
• major focus is not on the task but on the indirect and unspoken feelings of participants

Question 14

Low to moderate level of learning facilitator techniques

Answer 14

• The facilitator can increase participation and involvement by encouraging and motivating group members’ involvement.
• Nonverbal behaviours are useful here. Eye contact with head nods, a slight forward lean, warmth, and showing interest and respect can contribute to participants’ feelings of encouragement and motivation.
• The facilitator should plan activities that can be easily understood and accomplished with little or no frustration

Question 15

Moderate level of learning

Answer 15

• Few participants begin a group at the moderate level. If you have members at this level, you will find them to be of immense help. Their modelling of desired attitudes and behaviours, confidence in the process and the facilitator, and willingness to participate, promote feelings of trust and safety for other members.
• > However, most groups will not have these advantages.
• The good news is that a group can get to this level in a well-facilitated process

Question 16

Moderate level of learning facilitator techniques

Answer 16

• Building confidence in the group process and facilitator while attending to safety and trust issues encourages development to the moderate level.
• Once this level is attained, the facilitator can become less active, since members will interact with each other more and communications will not be primarily to and through the facilitator

Question 17

High level of learning

Answer 17

• When participants reach the high level, they can effectively function independently as group members.
• This level is attained over time with considerable interaction of members.
• > They need to know each other well and feel accepted, cared for, and respected.
• > The facilitator can facilitate this process, but it cannot be hurried.
• Each and every member might attain this level, but some members will take longer to arrive than others.
• The facilitator must take care not to become discouraged when a group fails to reach this level.
• > There just may not have been enough time

Question 18

Learning principles in psychoeducation groups

Answer 18

• individual factors
• methods of learning and teaching
• meaningfulness of material
• retention
• transfer of learning

Question 19

Individual factors - learning pricniples

Answer 19

• intelligence
• age
• previous learning
• motivation
• anxiety

Question 20

Methods of learning and teaching - learning principles

Answer 20

• active participation
• distribution of practice
• knowledge of results
• whole versus part

Question 21

Meaningfulness of material - learning principles

Answer 21

associations with…

• previously learned material
• internal needs or drives
• emotional content

Question 22

Retention - learning principles

Answer 22

• trace delay
• interference
• > proactive inhibition
• > reactive inhibition

Question 23

Retention - the rate of forgetting is a function of

Answer 23

• the extent to which the material was learning in the first place
• the relevance of learning to the learners’ needs
• intervening influences
• actions connected to the material following the learning
• the physical and psychological state of the individual both at learning and at recall

Question 24

Transfer of learning - learning principles

Answer 24

Occurs when learner…

• recognises common features among concepts, skills or principle
• links the information in memory
• sees the value of utilising what was learned in one situation in another situation

Question 25

Principle of instruction

Answer 25

• Establish clear goals.
• Assess readiness of group participants.
• Monitor and foster motivation.
• Encourage active versus passive involvement.
• Organise group content.
• Facilitate comprehension.
• Encourage practice

Question 26

Establish clear goals

Answer 26

Develop reasonable and clear goals; review goals with participants; obtain commitment to goals from participants

Question 27

Assess readiness of group participants

Answer 27

Understand education, maturity, and age levels of participants, and develop goals based on these

Question 28

Monitor and foster motivation

Answer 28

Understand the role of personal needs in motivation; plan activities to meet needs; review activities with participants and incorporate suggestions

Question 29

Encourage active versus passive involvement

Answer 29

Provide for participants’ active involvement; use experiential activities, games and simulations; encourage questions and discussion

Question 30

Organise group content

Answer 30

Plan for new material to be associated with previously learned material; present whole before part; organise presentation to be hierarchical; ensure material is meaningful to participants

Question 31

Facilitate comprehension

Answer 31

Make significant connections between materials for participants; illustrate significance, meanings, implications, and applications

Question 32

Encourage practice

Answer 32

Provide opportunities for repetition and review

Question 33

Using lectures for psychoeducation groups

Answer 33

• lectures should be well-organised presentations that go from point to point to provide an integrated knowledge and understanding of the material.
• Lectures are efficient ways of delivering a large amount of information in a short amount of time.
• If a facilitator plans to use lectures as part of a psychoeducation group, use mini-lectures lasting no more than 20 minutes. These are most effective if kept to 10 or 15 minutes.
• Members are more inclined to listen for that period than for a longer span. Further, having several mini-lectures interspersed with activities to reinforce the material will lead to greater learning and retention.

Question 34

Disadvantages of lectures for psychoeducation groups

Answer 34

• Listeners tend to have short attention spans unless the topic and presentation grab and hold their interest.
• Listening to a lecture is a passive form of learning, which is less effective than active forms.
• Lecturing demands considerable planning, organising, and presenting on the part of the facilitator.

Question 35

Discussion technique for psychoeducation groups

Answer 35

• Lively discussions contribute interest to the session and encourage participants to be involved.
• As a technique, discussion is not the goal of the group, and is typically kept short so that other activities can follow. Fewer members may be involved, and members tend to talk to the facilitator rather than to each other.
• Facilitators can initiate discussion by asking questions, calling for comments or questions, and encouraging exploration of points, issues and concepts.
• The exchange of ideas, opinions, and experiences can be energising to the group. Members feel their input is valued and they have something to contribute

Question 36

Exercises and games for psychoeducation groups

Answer 36

• Exercises, games, simulations, and role plays are forms of experiential learning. They are designed to produce more active involvement of participants, to focus on and emphasise a particular point, and to optimise learning and retention.
• The facilitator must have the expertise to help members deal with uncomfortable feelings, which can be intense, and to plan sessions so that the likelihood of these uncomfortable feelings is minimised.
• Exercises and games can be fun as well as educational. When learning is enjoyable, motivation is increased, comprehension is enhanced, and retention is promoted

Question 37

Multimedia for psychoeducation groups

Answer 37

• Videos, podcasts, computer presentations, and slides are examples of media. Media cover a large amount of material in a short time.
• They tend to capture interest more easily, can provide visual illustrations of material, and have been demonstrated to be effective in learning.
• The primary disadvantage of media is that they do not actually involve the learner.
• A facilitator of psychoeducation groups should make careful use of media. When used as accents or lead-ins, media presentations can be quite effective. Used too frequently or for too long a time, however, media presentations are less effective.