Weeks 1 & 2 Flashcards
General principles of group work with older adults
- More directive approach used by group leader
- Leader provides much more support, encouragement, and empathy.
- Loss themes are recurrent
- Focus often on immediate problems.
- Physical and cognitive deficits must be considered.
- leader often shares more personal information and provides more physical contact.
Burnside’s interpersonal needs of older adults
Unique issues group leader needs to address in beginning stage of group work with older adults:
- Need for Inclusion
- Need for Control
- Need for Affection
Ethical and value challenges in group work with older adults
- Leaders’ duty to group vs. duty to individual
- Leaders’ duty to provide democratic leadership vs. their professional responsibility to intervene.
- Leaders’ obligations as employee & team members vs. their duty to the group
- Leaders obligation to ensure confidentiality vs. their duty to protect patient welfare.
- Leaders’ duty to the older adult group versus their need to support & protect research integrity
Main theories of Aging
There are 4
Disengagement
Activity
Continuity
Role
Relevant theoretical frameworks fro group work
There are 4
Systems Theory
Psycho-dynamic Theory
Learning Theory
Field Theory
Disengagement
Main premise is that disengagement is normative in late-life.
Activity
To successfully age, high levels of physical , mental, and social activities are needed.
Continuity
To successfully age, evolution rather than homeostasis is needed.
Role
To successful age, need to be able to role changes.
Systems Theory
Group is dynamic system of interacting elements
Psycho-dynamic theory
Group members act out unresolved conflicts from earlier life experiences. Yalom (1995) modified by emphasizing the importance of the here-and-now, referred to as INTERPERSONAL GROUP THERAPY
Learning Theory
Focus of group is on helping members learn new behaviors
Field Theory
Group is a gestalt, an evolving entity of opposing forces that move group along in quest for goal achievement
Core Underlying theoretical concepts of therapy groups
There are 3
Autonomy
Interdependence
Responsibility
Autonomy
Each of us is born with the potential to choose more authentic growth of the self
Interdependence
is the basis for the groups potential for mutual aid
Responsibility
The central task of group process is to empower group members to take more responsibility for their choices and self-actualization.
Group Content vs. Group Process
Group Content:
- What is said in group
- The purpose & function of a group
Group Process:
- How and why things are said in group
- The interaction among group members in the here-and-now
Yalom on Processing (definition)
Processing refers to a leader’s verbal response to something that is happening in a group in a particular moment.
Purpose of Processing
- It can bring into the open something that the leader feels about himself/herself, a member, or the group as a whole
- It can be used to provide feedback about some aspect of a specific interaction as it occurs
- Can be used to shift focus to the here-and-now
processing limitations
Not appropriate for all groups
Yalom’s Curative Factors
There are 11
- Instillation of hope
- Universality
- Imparting of information
- Altruism
- Family recapitulation
- Socializing technique
- Imitative behavior
- Interpersonal Learning
- Group cohesiveness
- Catharsis
- Existential Factors
