· Each member should select at least one recent (published in the past 5–10 years), peer-reviewed journal article in APA formatting that supports the rationale for the group. Provide a brief summary (1–3 sentences) for your article(s) explaining why it supports your rationale. Be sure to include the Walden Library permalink or DOI so your colleagues and faculty may review the article.
· In conjunction with your cohort members, select the resources that best support your rationale. Use these to begin a draft of your brief literature review in your working proposal document.
· Refine and clearly state your group objectives in measurable terms. (What can group members expect to change as a result of participating in your group?)
· Outline the practical considerations for your group. This should include group size, screening procedure, location of meetings, and necessary informed consent. Determine if the group is to be an open or closed group, how you plan to recruit members, the number of expected sessions, and the group structure.
· Consider potential inclusion and diversity themes, such as how diversity may impact early group process or how you might address bias.
· Add any proposed curriculum or theoretical underpinning that would be appropriate for your group. (This may emerge from the literature.)
· Consider any additional leadership skills and/or training that might be required.
Required Readings
Corey, M. S., Corey, G., & Corey, C. (2018). Groups: Process and practice (10th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage.
- Chapter 6, “Initial Stage of a Group” (pp. 175–220)
Corey, G., Corey, M. S., & Haynes, R. (2014). Groups in action: Evolution and challenges (2nd ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole, Cengage.
- Part II, “The Initial Stage”
Here is an example of a classmates post.
Hi all! Hope everyone is doing well. I have not heard back from some of you on confirming the population for our group proposal, and I understand we are in differing time zones and have different things going on in our lives, but I had to get this assignment in on time while I had time. Sooooo, that being said, my initial post for this week is based on if we all agreed upon the psychoeducational group for adolescents in military families. This seems like a good group to encompass most of our population interests because there are so many various issues this population may face- undoubtedly related to the various interests expressed by all of you last week. Also, with the military specification, our research and lit review can go more smoothly- as we have a specifier for looking up information on the types of struggles and methods for helping the group.
Summary of Article (Adolescents in wartime US military families: A developmental perspective on challenges and resources)
Adolescents in US military families are a unique group that not only face normal milestones of adolescent development such as establishing identity and becoming autonomous, but also the challenges of military life including frequent moves, relocation, parent deployment to combat settings, and the emotional and physical issues experienced by both the deployed parent and the caretaker parent (Milburn & Lightfoot, 2013). As of 2013, nearly two million teens aged twelve to eighteen years in the US live in a military household impacted by these challenges, and according to the Department of defense, these military families have experienced the most frequent, longest, and most cumulative number of wartime deployments in US history (Milburn & Lightfoot, 2013). Some of the adolescents from this population report high levels of emotional and behavioral problems as well as substance use (Milburn & Lightfoot, 2013). The Milburn and Lightfoot (2013) article explores how the adolescent experience of being a member in a military family influences the physical, cognitive, and emotional developmental changes in these adolescents and posits that working with this unique population contributes to growing and necessary research on military families to be part of the body of research in mainstream psychology. The Milburn and Lightfoot article explores the risk statuses, challenges, and supportive resources for adolescents in this population, which is why I suggest it as one of the articles to be included in our final literature review for the project, because of the well-rounded review of information concerning the challenges, needs, and types of support proven helpful for this unique population.
Things to Figure out:
So following the suggestions for this week, I have written out my thoughts on each prompt- these are shared to open discussion about what you guys might like/agree with, or dislike/disagree with- I am open to all input! Let’s try to get a general consensus on as much as possible by the end of this week!
Initial Objectives and Goals
I am re-reporting my initial objectives and goals because they are in measurable terms…I thought you guys had some great ideas for goals and objectives as well, but we would just need to put them into measurable terms, which we can do in our back and forth here in the discussion. Here are my measurable objectives: establishing a safe and respectful environment, gaining signed consent and confidentiality documents, and managing expectations for treatment outcomes by the second session of group therapy, exploring individual issues and common themes by third session, evoking and beginning exploring of emotion by the fourth session, generating new emotional responses by midway through the course of therapy, and validating an emerging sense of self in the second half of the therapeutic relationship. Essentially, the group leaders would record how and when members meet these objectives and address any issues individuals face toward meeting these objectives by adapting group and session processes as appropriate. Some of the goals these objectives would lead to fulfilling would be overcoming bonding inhibitions and fears of emotions. Additional goals would be increasing functioning, energy, connectedness, and positive sense of self and outlook, often measured via self-report assessments administered at the beginning and end of treatment.
Group Size/ Recruitment/ Screening Procedures/ Open or Closed/ Number of Sessions/Structure/ Addressing biases in group/ Consent/ Curriculum
The group size may be moderate to small, based on the need in whatever location we choose (research here may help us find the most under served locations where we could contribute with the psycho educational group). Recruitment could occur in the under served location through local bulletins including schools, churches, community buildings, etc. The screening procedure could be an intake interview, some sort of documentation or parent confirmation of military affiliation, and/or gathering information on the teen’s presenting issues, risk factors, and protective factors via intake questionnaire, in efforts to ensure the members of the group are on even playing field in those terms so the direction and efficacy of group can be maintained appropriately. I also recommend this is an open group, given that this unique population moves around a lot- I would not want to close the group to incoming adolescents who just moved to the area seeking support who would benefit from group. I would have to do more research but I’m thinking this could be a school-based group or after school type of group which may benefit from having weekly meetings throughout the school year which would mean about thirty-six meetings. I think we decided the group would be a psycho educational group so the structure might include a designated opening time for check in, and then a weekly topic based on the needs of group members from their intake information, and then a closing segment where final thoughts can be shared and prep for next week can occur. To address biases and promote inclusion in group I think we should set the precedent immediately within the first group meeting where members agree verbally to promote respect, inclusion, and non judgement, as well as write it out on a piece of paper and sign off on what they wrote to solidify the commitment. We will bring up this agreement whenever issues arise and be diligent to not let any negative interactions or bullying occur. We will also have initial consent/disclosure documents signed and explained within first session where standards are set and known by all involved on the confidentiality of group, and consent to involvement and its risks. Curriculum or approach toward therapy in group warrants further research on what is shown to be most effective, but given that this is a psycho educational group part of the process may include establishing the boundaries and expectations for group, and after its members are open toward the process proceeding based on topics selected by the group (or moderators) for each week consisting of a portion of introduction to educational information followed by group discussion on what was educationally revealed to group that week. Training necessary may include some sort of group leadership experience, or valid formal education in lieu of actual experience, where leadership skills will be a must in managing the expectations, direction, interaction levels, and respect amongst a group with this population where varying issues and levels of intensity are sure to arise.
References
Milburn, N., & Lightfoot, M. (2013). Adolescents in wartime US military families: A developmental perspective on challenges and resources. Clinical Child & Family Psychology Review, 16(3), 266-277. Doi: 10.1007/s10567-013-0144-0