Themes in Group Work with Lesbian and Gay Adolescents

ABSTRACT

Lesbian and gay youth often face severe isolation, growing up in an environment that is frequently ignorant of their unique needs and hostile toward them. Youth groups can serve a vital role in overcoming this isolation in addition to providing a safe space for working out the various problems surrounding the stigma of growing up gay. This article presents several themes in group work with lesbian and gay adolescents based on the author's experience as a group worker at a lesbian and gay youth project. Isolation, coming out, learning/re-learning, and initiation into a community are offered as four main themes which provide a foundation for understanding how to help lesbian and gay adolescents in groups.     

The Impact of Self-Esteem Group Work Practice with Rural Elementary Male Students

The present pilot study examines the effect of a social work self-esteem group as a method for improving the self-esteem and classroom behavior of disruptive male students in an elementary school in rural Georgia. Teachers, educators, and administrators in school systems across the nation are continuously bombarded with a disproportionate number of students who fail to display acceptable standards for appropriate classroom behavior, particularly male students. Research efforts have been directed toward identifying effective social work practice interventions that will bring about meaningful proactive changes to elementary student populations who exhibit such behaviors. A validated outcome measure was included in an uncontrolled pretest–posttest design to determine quantifiable changes. Findings from this study show that after the social work group intervention, posttest scores tended to be lower than pretest scores, which would indicate that there was a notable improvement in elementary students’ self-esteem and class behavior between pretest and posttest assessments. Implications for social work practice are discussed.     

Social Group Work with Asian/Pacific-Americans

This paper discusses the Asian/Pacific clients and the group practice modality. Specific suggestion are offered to help group workers better understand Asian/Pacific-American clients, capitalize on their unique strengths, and minimize their limitations. Part I of this paper addresses practical group work considerations for the Pre-Group Phase; Part II addresses practical group work considerations for the Group Interaction phase.     

Use of Self-Disclosure for the Gay Male Therapist: The Impact on Gay Males in Therapy

ABSTRACT

Homophobia and heterosexism often can negatively affect a gay male's development, and developing internalized homophobia can challenge connecting with others. Using a sample of eight therapist–patient pairs (16 participants), each participant responded to how often the therapist self-disclosed. In addition, each participant completed a measurement inventory to determine how connected each was to the other (patient to therapist or therapist to patient). Findings indicated that self-disclosure occurred often during therapy, and there was a fairly high level of connection between patients and therapists. Patients who perceived that their therapists self-disclosed more often also reported higher levels of connection when compared with those who perceived a lower level of therapist self-disclosure. Recommendations for future research are made along with practice implications designed to help therapists effectively use self-disclosure when working with gay male clients.     

Group Work with Families

Family practice is a special case of social work with groups. This practice especially requires an ethnic and multicultural perspective. Such a framework is presented in this paper with focus on group work with families in Singapore. Singapore is an economically developed East Asian nation populated predominately by three ethnic groups: Chinese, Malay, and Indian. These groups have experienced a wider culture in transition, affecting their family group culture. Through use of the sensitizing conceptual frameworks of family cultural reality and value orientation theory, this paper presents a multicultural perspective and applies it to group work with families in Singapore. The framework used is deemed applicable to practice with the family and other small groups in similar multicultural contexts wherein members experience the effects of swift social change.     

Group Work with the Deinstitutionalized Elderly

Two series of group sessions were conducted with elderly residents of a group home for deinstitutionalized mental hospital residents. Entitled, "Improving Communication Skills," the sessions were designed to enhance the residents' verbal and non-verbal communication skills and to lay the foundation for greater interpersonal contacts. An evaluation of this pilot program suggests that it did, in fact, help participants improve their interpersonal skills. The paper concludes with suggestions for the establishment of similar groups.     

Group Work with Hard-to-Reach Adolescents

Treatment of the adolescent population, especially delinquent and predelinquent youth, has been a difficult challenge in the mental health field. Traditional treatment modalities not suited to unmotivated, verbally unsophisticated teenagers have generally bypassed them. We describe here the adaptation of streetwork and therapeutic activity group practice to this population. Focus is on the flexible use of member initiated program selection as a dynamic group work tool.     

Social Group Work with Elders

No abstract available for this article.     

Group Work with the Bedouin Population of the Negev

The Bedouin living in the Negev desert, in the south of Israel, are undergoing a rapid and dramatic process of sedenterization. In 1986 a group of social work students surveyed the needs of one of the tribes who were transferred from pastoralism to a new urban settlement when a military airport was built on their old settlement area following the Camp David Peace Treaty. The survey showed a variety of urgent needs, particularly among adolescents about to finish their high school studies. We report here on group interventions with these young men and women, led by Bedouin students, aimed at helping them reach decisions about their future. The groups used the opportunity to discuss and share with others their feelings about marriage, career choice and planning their future, though there were clear differences between the dynamics and the content of the male and female groups. We discuss the reasons for these differences, as well as the extent to which the groups were thus able to fulfill the safety valve role of traditional social networks which, because of the turmoil created by the physical and social changes undergone by the community, were unable to fulfill their, roles as in the past. We argue that the group formed a stable social resource in a confused environment, characterized by tension between the individual and the society, and an important point of contact on the boundary between the Bedouin and the surrounding society.     

Group Work with Black Adoptive Applicants

The variety of uses of groups in the field of adoptions is traced historically and the group process is presented as an effective approach to studying prospective adoptive families. A case study of a culturally specific group of prospective black adoptive applicants is described and analyzed. Special emphasis is placed on the unique skills and knowledge needed by adoption workers in establishing trust and relationships with groups of black families who are interested in adopting.     

Group Work Practice with American Indians

This paper discusses ways in which social group work can be implemented in behalf of American Indian clientele. Social workers should be aware of the value that American Indians have placed on the use of groups within their own culture, and the importance of understanding the impact of American Indian culture on each individual Amcrican Indian client and tribal group. A number of current issues facing American Indian people are identified. Suggestions are offered for consideration in planning specific group experiences.     

Group Work with Low-Income Black Youths

Low-income Black youths face problems which negatively impact on their self-concepts and educational achievement. Without an education, the opportunities for social mobility for them are severely decreased. The small group is suggested as a medium of intervention in the public schools by which large numbers of low-income Black youths can be reached and assisted with problems which interfere with their cducation. This paper discusses group work with this population, the theoretical framework utilized, and the applicability of some of the insights gained from working with this population to group work wilh Blacks in general.     

Group Work Practice with Asian Clients

While considerable interest has been given to the social work with Asian-Americans, little attention has been paid to the Asian group work practice. This article suggests a sociocultural approach in working with Asian groups, including a knowledge of the sociocultural heritage of the Asian clients, the proper respect for the members of the family on group process, and the group worker's, awareness of the significance of role expectation and its meaning for clients. In dealing with these sociocultural aspects, the social worker's role in Asian group treatment is that of a culture broker and enabler.     

Stress at Home, Peace at Work: A Test of the Time Bind Hypothesis

Objective . We test the central thesis of Hochschild's (1997) The Time Bind : people who are unsatisfied with housework, parenting, or their marriage work more hours, or at a minimum prefer to work more hours, especially if satisfaction with work is high. Methods . Using the data from the 1987–1988 National Survey of Families and Households, we analyzed the influence of work and home satisfaction on the actual and desired work hours of 1,533 respondents who were employed, married to an employed spouse, and had one or more resident children under age 18. Results . We found that people who were more satisfied with work than home or who were dissatisfied with home life in general did not work more hours or even desire to do so. Conclusions . Contrary to Hochschild's assertions, there was little evidence that working parents dissatisfied with home life worked more hours or desired to spend more time at work.     

Group Work and the Environment

No abstract available for this article.     

Group Work with Inner City Persons with AIDS

A model for serving inner city poor persons with AIDS through a medical facility is described. The mixed factors of ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, race and modes of transmission are examined as influences on the group process. Objectives, pre-group planning, formation guidelines, and presenting problems of members are identified. Through case illustrations group issues are used to point out interventive strategies. Because of the shifting demographics of people with AIDS and their families, the group modality provides a vital educative and supportive vehicle to highly disadvantaged persons affected by the disease.     

Group Work with First Episode Schizophrenia Clients

ABSTRACT

Group work with first episode schizophrenia clients is an effective way of improving ego functioning, building adaptive coping skills, and addressing the painful feelings associated with learning of this diagnosis. First episode schizophrenia clients are typically in their late teens to late twenties, and confront the cognitive disability, the stigma and the loss of social roles and statuses at a developmentally difficult stage of emotional growth. The dynamic processes by which cohesive groups reduce isolation, build self-esteem, and provide peer support are illustrated with case material. The group work consists of integrating psychoeducation with clients' concerns in order to provide optimal adjustment to the disease. The groups described in this article are structured within a continuing care team treatment model in a medical facility, but the group work discussed may be utilized in a variety of settings.     

Developing Anti-Oppressive Empowering Social Work Practice with Older Lesbian Women and Gay Men

Summary Available studies suggest that around 10 per cent of the populationmight self-identify as a lesbian woman or gay man (Davies andNeal, 1996). It follows that social workers will engage witholder people who are homosexual. It does not follow that theywill know who they are, as this is a group often characterizedby its invisibility. This paper reports the results of a small-scale,exploratory study which examined how older lesbian women andgay men perceived their needs should they become ill or disabledas they age (Langley, 1997). Their concerns were viewed in thecontext of their past as well as present lives, and oppressionwas a unifying theme. Some of the findings are examined in orderto highlight key challenges for social work practice. Theseinclude: (i) working with invisibility and fear of oppression;(ii) developing awareness and recognition of lesbian and gayrelationships and supportive networks; (iii) the need for anti-oppressiveempowering services which match the needs and circumstancesof older lesbian women and gay men; (iv) importantly, the needfor greater awareness of the heterosexist assumptions whichinfluence institutional responses and individual practice.