Citizenship Consciousness,Nonbounded Solidarity,and Social Justice

This article analyzes the concepts of bounded and nonbounded solidarity. It first reviews some fundamental propositions from the sociological literature and then looks at Amnesty International's conception of solidarity. A third part discusses solidarity as it applies to social work with groups. The conclusion raises five questions social workers need to address to make social justice a standard part of social group work theory and practice.     

Developing and Leading Telephone Groups

Telephone groups are an important for meeting the needs of clients who cannot get to face-to-face groups, or prefer the convenience of meeting by telephone. This article describes the knowledge and skills that social group workers need to develop, implement, and lead telephone groups. Particular attention is paid to the clinical adaptations that are needed when leading telephone as compared to face-to-face groups using examples from caregiver psychoeducational and support groups.     

Remembering Katy: A Reflection on Social Work with Groups’ Founding Coeditor Catherine P. Papell (1916–2013)

This article reflects on the remarkable career of one of the founders and first coeditors of Social Work with Groups. Catherine (Katy) Papell made outstanding contributions to social work—especially to social work with groups for which she was a passionate advocate. In addition to editing this journal, she was a group worker, educator, activist, historian, writer/theorist, mentor, and role model. In the process she became a beloved friend to many and will be greatly missed.     

A Model for Group Work Practice with Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Victims of Domestic Violence: A Qualitative Study

ABSTRACT

The Orthodox Jewish community has only recently acknowledged that religious practice and commitment does not make one immune to suffering from domestic violence. Effective therapeutic techniques for working with battered Orthodox women have only recently begun to emerge.

This article focuses on the use of group work as an effective therapeutic modality for working with abused Orthodox Jewish women. This research highlights the insight, knowledge, and experience of practitioners who facilitate domestic violence groups, focusing on proficiencies and ethnic-sensitive practice strategies that are perceived to lead to successful outcomes.

The application of ethnic-sensitive strategies is discussed to illustrate viable therapeutic considerations for working with this population. Implications and issues for educators and practitioners will be addressed.     

Group Work as a Protective Factor for Immigrant Youth

While constructing a cultural understanding of the adaptation process of Hispanic immigrant youth, this article illustrates how social group process acts as a "protective factor" which promotes a capacity for competence and mastery over their new environment.     

I'm Gone When You're Gone: How a Group Can Survive When Its Leader Takes a Leave of Absence

SUMMARY

As the roles and demands on social workers increase in their agencies and their personal lives, there is a greater chance that they will need to take a leave of absence. This is also true for social workers who lead groups. This article presents a process to allow the primary worker to take a leave of absence while the group continues with an interim worker. The author's personal experience of a leave of absence from a HIV+ adolescent support group will be used to illustrate this transfer process. In providing ample time and a thoughtful process of transfer, this leave of absence was successful in maintaining group attendance and participation.     

A SHORT-TERM GROUP TREATMENT MODEL FOR PROBLEM-DRINKING DRIVERS

Problem-drinking drivers have, from the outset of the New York State Program in 1975, presented a real challenge to alcoholism treatment providers. The very nature of the "mandated" condition of treatment as a prerequisite for return of a driver's license lends itself to resistance and rage. A short-term group treatment model is a response to the difficulties encountered in fitting the problem-drinking driver into a treatment system that is primarily designed for latter stage-alcoholics in need of long-term, intensive rehabilitation. The short-term group approach is an application of situational crisis theory, adjustment demand theory, and treatment contracting. The intervention model begins with two individual family evaluation sessions followed by from twelve to sixteen group therapy sessions of ninety minutes duration each.     

FILLING AN EMPTY UNIVERSE

This paper describes the way in which men who had previously experienced themselves as friendless and emotionally isolated, quickly became welded into a mutually supportive and helpful group. The force which hastened the normal group process to a marked degree was that of poetry. Poems were read and discussed which had as their themes many of the deepest concerns of the men. By sharing their responses to the poems, the members almost immediately began sharing some of their own most personal and meaningful life experiences and emotions. Being part of this short term group had a deep effect on each of the men in it.     

The Use of Purpose in On-Going Activity Groups: A Framework for Maximizing the Therapeutic Impact

ABSTRACT

This article explores the purposeful use of on-going activity in social group work. It examines the ways in which the group's purposes fluctuate over the group's life, with the activity-oriented purpose taking precedence in beginnings, the personal growth-oriented purpose taking precedence in the middle stage, and both purposes sharing importance in endings. Throughout the paper, illustrations from a co-ed teen ceramics group are provided.     

Racial Differences in Family Burden

This article examines the clinical implications for social work practice of the differential impact of caregiving strain according to race. Data for this report is drawn from a study of 810 patients in a community-based geriatric assessment center. Although this research found no essential difference, based on race, in the experience of family burden as a social problem, there was a difference within the interaction of race and the care for an elderly person with Alzheimer's disease. The authors suggest a classification scheme of specific interventions for different caregiving groups and subgroups, based on both race and relationship; these selected variables can provide more insight into possible vulnerable caregiving conditions.