GROUP PROPOSAL and MANUAL INSTRUCTIONS Develop a brief, but comprehensive struc

GROUP PROPOSAL and MANUAL INSTRUCTIONS Develop a brief, but
comprehensive structural group manual detailing a small group of Military
service members recently returning from combated and soon to be discharged from
the military on coping skills for PTSD. The manual should be functional and
appropriate for five 1-hour or 90-min sessions. Information contained within
the manual should be practical and written in an explicit manner so that others
could implement the group using your manual. This project is an opportunity to
be creative while grounding your proposed group in the established research and
literature on group work and your target population. This assignment must be in
APA 7th, with no less than 15 pages of literature not including the cover,
references and any appendix pages.
Section One: Program Overview (6-8
pages)
This section includes a
review of previous research, all decisions made prior to the first group
meeting, and justification for decisions using references. Chapter one should
be divided into the sections listed below. Your decisions should be backed up
by what you have learned in this course and your research. A minimum of 5
references should be used to support your group design. Must use the book (Yalom,
I.D. & Leszcz, M. (2020). Theory and practice of group psychotherapy (6th
ed.). New York: Basic Books) as one of the references.
1. Introduction and literature review: Briefly summarize and critique the literature
(research, theory, descriptive) as it applies to this type of group. Describe
the nature of the research, research, and authors’ conclusions. At the end of
this section, explain how the research supports your suggested group design.
(Recommended: 2-3 pages)
2. Rationale for the group: Who is it for? What issue does it address? What type
of group is it? What are the goals for the group (what do you expect to
accomplish in 5 weeks)? Goals should reflect the group purpose, and meet the
needs of the members (Recommended: 2 pages)
3. Evaluation: The purpose of evaluation is to determine if the group was effective
at helping group members learn or develop in whatever way the group is intended
to help them. Evaluations may be formal (a standardized instrument) or informal
(a survey developed by the leaders for use in only this group). Evaluations can
be focused on assessing change related to the target topic (in a group for teen
girls with eating disorders, did members change their food-related thinking or
behavior?) Evaluation can also focus on group members’ perceptions of the group
itself (“What was the best thing that happened in group today?”). Please
describe what you would like to evaluate (i.e. restate your goals) and how you
will do so. Please include (in your appendix) a copy of any formal or informal
evaluation tools you plan to use. (Recommended: 2-3 pages)
Section Two:
Program Considerations (4 – 6 pages)
1. Membership: How many members? This decision should be supported by the literature.
Who are the members? How were they referred (i.e., self-referral, agency
referral, court mandate, etc.)? What kind of information is relevant to member
selection? How will you screen and select members? How are members prepared for
the group? What are the preferred member characteristics? Heterogeneous or
homogeneous, and along what factors? Examples of member characteristics. Statements
about members should be supported by what you have learned about effective
group work. Please include in your appendix a 1-p advertisement/recruitment
flyer. (Recommended: 2-3 pages)
2. Leadership: Who is/are the facilitator(s)? Male/Female? One/Two? Training/Experience?
Why? What leadership style may be best suited to group and why? (Recommended
approx.1/2 to 1 page)
3. Logistics:
When and where will the sessions be held? Are the setting considerations? Any
additional information important for the reader of this manual. (Recommended
approx. ½ to 1 page)
4. Multicultural Application: Is your group appropriate for all
cultural/racial/ethnic backgrounds? How will you ensure that you are able to
cast a wide net in terms of member recruitment? What considerations are needed
to ensure that diverse group members feel welcome and safe in your group?
(Recommended approx. ½ to 1 page)
Section Three: Session
Outlines
Create a schedule for all
five sessions. This may be written single spaced and in bullet style (for the
sake of clarity and organization) and should include:
Theme: What’s the main idea behind
this session? Be brief: one phrase, sentence, etc. Rationale: The rationale explains the
aims and reasoning for the session. Sessions and activities should be
selected and sequenced in some logical order. The rationale should make
sense for both the learning goals of the group as well as for group
development. For example, a discussion of group norms must occur in the
earliest session(s) to lay the necessary foundation for important future
group work. In a study skills group, you’d teach group members a method
for effective note-taking after you’d covered simpler skills but before
you asked them to bring in sample notes to share with peers for feedback. Objectives and Behavioral
Outcomes:
Member-oriented, instructional objectives are simple sentences stating
what members are expected to learn in the session. Each objective is
supported by behavioral indicators (behavior outcomes) that may indicate
that an objective has been met. Most sessions should contain objectives
which address group development and/or therapeutic factors as well as
theme content.
Activities: What will you have members do
in session, in order to meet session objectives? Each session will contain
structured (or semi-structured) activities. Activities must be carefully
considered and selected to ‘fit’ the group type and purpose, as well as
member characteristics. (For instance, a psychoeducational group- like a
study skills group for ninth- graders- would typically use structured
activities, while a counseling group for college-age women focused on
personal growth may use unstructured, member-generated activities.) List
activities in order with an approximate time line identified. Each
activity should be briefly described, followed by three or four process
questions. Activity Process questions should pertain to content of the
activity (what did members learn) and member reactions (feelings).
Remember process questions are unique for each activity. Specific details,
procedures, and materials for activities should be included in an appendix
in the back of the manual. Be sure all information in the appendices is
easy to locate.
Session Processing: In addition to processing
each activity, the final 10 minutes are used to process the full session.
List three or four process questions related to session objectives,
behavioral outcomes and member affective reactions. These are important
because they help members tell you what they learned in the session and
how they are progressing toward group goals.
Section Four: Appendices
and References
This
final section should include copies of any evaluations you plan to use, any
recruitment materials, any handouts for sessions and/or worksheets, etc., and
your final reference page.
Additional
Comments on Section Three – Session Outlines: Section three may be
bulleted and typed using single space with double space to separate for clarity
and ease of reading. Also, type may be dropped to 10 or 11 point and margins
may be adjusted to help you present information in an effective manner.
The session theme should
communicate the main idea of the session. It is a general conceptual organizer.
This does not mean that other topics must be omitted. You may need to carry
over a topic from the previous session.
Objectives are your
conceptual organizers. They should identify what you want the members to learn
and communicate a conceptual organization from session 1 to 5 as you move
toward the overall goal(s) of the group. You will notice in the example that
the verb used may or may not be followed by observable behavior. The important
question is whether you will be able to identify behavioral outcomes that go
with the objective. Your behavioral outcome statement(s) will identify
observable behavior to determine whether the objective is reached. Also, use a verb
in your objective that best communicates the level of learning you want to
occur.
Behavioral outcomes are
descriptions of observable behavior you will look for to determine if the
objective has been reached. They help you make assumptions about learning
explicit and concrete. You will want more than one behavioral outcome for an
objective if they help you track member learning. Check the behavior you
describe to make sure it is observable.
Activity descriptions
should be briefly included in the outline so the reader can follow the flow of
the session. A more detailed description goes in the appendix. At times,
greater description of the process will help make the activity clear. It is not
necessary to write every word the leader would use during an activity or for
purposes of linking activities. Just include the main conceptual ideas needed
to flow through the session. Please include linkage comments between
activities.
Processing questions are
used to enhance learning. Some of the most effective questions for learning ask
members for similarities and differences. These encourage members to evaluate
and organize their thinking on a subject. Process questions also ask for the
type of information you need to verify behavioral outcomes and whether
objectives seem to have been reached. As you think about what type of learning
you want, decide whether a cognitive or feeling question would be best. Do not
ask members how they feel if you want to know what they think. Process
questions should be open questions. A closed question doesn’t get you very far.
Setups and links are
important tools to help members be prepared for the next activity and session.
They assist members to focus their attention and follow the conceptual flow.
Setups and links connect activities and sessions. Connections can be made to
previous sessions and activities or future sessions and activities. They should
also serve to energize and motivate–increase the desire to learn. When actually
leading groups your voice tone and enthusiasm will also help to motivate.