USES OF

GROUPS
1. Many individual feel more comfortable, or are encouraged
to participate and share ideas because of interaction that
takes place in a group. They receive support and
assurance from the realization that other participants
have the same or even more serious problems.
2. Group members receive psychological rewards from the
experience of helping process with their problems. This is
the: helper therapy’ principle.
3. Internal forces in groups ( such as contagion, affectional,
group pressure, leadership) can be influence attitudes,
values and behavior, making groups potent instrument for
affecting desired changes in the individual members’
needs and interest (e.g. group discussion, group
dynamics exercises, role play, audio-visuals).
4. The cooperative thinking process
that make place in group, especially
if guided properly, can hasten
decision-making on the part of its
members.
5. Many individuals have similar
problems that are best handled with
a group engaged in collective action
instead of acting individually.
6. For certain purposes, it may be more economical to work
with groups than with individuals. The best laid-out plans
for working with individual client on a one-to-one basis are
often not implemented in many agencies in the country
because of staff constraints. The group approach should
be considered as an alternative, supplemented, if
appropriate, with group with individual members.
a. Given the proceeding advantages, social worker from
group because they recognized that group can be
effectively utilized to bring about planned change. The
following are specific reasons for using the group mode
of service.
 b. To use the groups as the primary means of helping
(e.g.., form a treatment/ rehabilitation-oriented group
for youth offender in a correctional institution):
c. To augment individual methods(e.g.,
organized a parent’s group):
d. To augment community methods(e.g.,
form a : core group” to facilitate
community problem-solving);and
e. To work with groups in the context of
intergroup approaches at the community
level (e.g., help a group to become
effective in coalitions of various
community groups toward defined
objectives).
 f. USES OF GROUPS
Since social workers use the group approach for many reasons
and we also realize that here are many advantages found in
this mode of service delivery, let us now study how the
social workers can use groups.
These are no clear-cut rules that tell us when or when not
to use group. We know, however, that the group approach
is which they see as the cause of their difficulty/problem.
Two example of such group efforts stand out among many
that have been described to me by social workers. One is
about how a group of mother in a remote rural area in the
Mountain Province was able to pressure them toward
their mayor to order the closure of a gambling den in the
area.
FOR THE SOCIAL WORKERS, THE GROUP
APPROACH OFFERS THE FF. ADVANTAGES:

1. Many individuals feel more comfortable,

or are encourage participating and
sharing ideas because of the interaction
that takes place in a group. They receive
support and assurance from the
realization that other participants have
the same, or even more problems.
2. Group members receive psychological
rewards from the experience of helping
others with their problems. This is the
“helper therapy” principle.
3. Internal forces in groups (such as contagion,
affectionalities, group pressure, leadership) can
influence attitudes values and behaviors, making
groups potent instruments for effecting desired
changes in the individual and the group.
4. The group lends itself to the use of a variety of
activities that are not only relevant to the group’s
goals but also respond to the individual members’
needs and interests (e.g. group discussions, group
dynamics exercises, role play, audio-visuals).
5. The cooperative thinking process that takes place in
a group, especially if guided properly, can hasten
decision-making on the part of its members.
6. Many individuals have similar problems that
are best handled with a group engaged in
collective action instead of acting individually.
7. For certain purposes, it may be more
economical to work with groups than with
individuals. The best laid-out plans for
working with individual clients on a one-to-one
basis are often not implemented in many
agencies in the country because of staff
constraints. The group approach should be
considered as an alternative, supplemented, if
appropriate, with work with individual
members.
SPECIFIC REASONS FOR
USING THE GROUP MODE
OF SERVICE
1. To use the group as the primary
means of helping (e.g., form a
treatment/rehabilitation-oriented
group for youth offenders in a
correctional institution);
2. To augment individual methods
(e.g., form a counseling group to
reinforce treatment goals in one-to-
one helping relationship);
3. To augment with individual families (e.g.,
organize a parents’ group);
4. To augment community method (e.g., form a
“core group” to facilitate community problem-
solving); and
5. To work with groups in the context of
intergroup approaches at the community level
(e.g., help a group to become effective in
coalitions of various community groups toward
defined objectives).
USES OF GROUPS BY MARGARET HARTFORD

• The target for what she calls a

“common-sense classification” are
•(1.) The individual members;
•(2). Problem is interpersonal
relationship;
•(3). A small system in the
neighborhood, community, or
institution; and 4. Large system of
institutions, region, state, or nation
 CATEGORIES OF GROUP USED
1. For effect on participants
2. For collective problem-solving
3. For change in the social situation
or condition outside the group
HOW THE GROUPS EFFECT CHANGE

• There is a wide selection of social science

literature that informs us about how groups
bring about change. Of these, I think Dorwin
Cartwright’s three ways of viewing how groups
enter into the process of change are
particularly relevant.
THE GROUP AS MEDIUM OF CHANGE

• the target of influence is the individual

member, and the source of what influence is
the group (e.g, the members’ interaction with
each other, the worker and the interaction with
the members) Guided group processes are
utilized to help members of the group with
their particular problems.
 THE GROUP AS TARGET OF CHANGE
• Robert Vinter calls this “indirect means of influence” where
practitioner interventions are used to effect the modifications in
group conditions which, in turn, affect the members.
• These conditions include the groups’ composition, climate, structure
(including size, governing and operating procedures, and sub-
groups) and processes.
• Use of such means of influence is unique to group work because the
group serves as the “action system”.
• The group’s size may have to be changed if it is affecting the quality
of member-member and worker-member interactions and
relationship, and a highly formal or autocratic leadership style may
have to be modified if it is blocking individual participation and
group decision making.
• These and other changes in different aspects of the group system
often have to be undertaken in order to achieve desired effects on
the individual members as defined by the treatment or helping
goals. When these are done, the group becomes the target of
change.
 THE GROUP AS AGENT OF CHANGE
• refers to the active involvement of the group in efforts to
modify, or redirect features or forces in its social
environment which make demands, create pressures, and
impose constraints on the group which can have adverse
effects on its development and goal achievement. In many
cases, change in the individual or group can only come
about after the social environment has been modified or
changed.
• The use of the group as an agent of change is done not
only to supplement the worker’s own efforts, but to enable
the group to be an active player in its own goal-achieving
process. Such an experience, constantly repeated, helps to
develop in the group members a sense of autonomy and
confidence which is what ultimately leads to human
empowerment, a priority value in social work.
• Vinter and Galinzky state that group’s social
environment includes the a) separate social
affiliations and personal environments of the group’s
members (i.e., family, school, etc.)
• And b) objects, persons and other units collectively
encountered by the group as a social entity (e. g., the
guards in a correctional institution, the house parents
in a rehabilitation center, local officials who
promulgate and enforce rules). These two
environments often overlap (such as in the case of a
group whose members all reside in the same
institution) but they are also, in many cases, mutually
exclusive.
• Individual group members, on their own, or with
encouragement from the worker may want to modify
some conditions in their personal environments.
Group attention can be focused on their own, or with
encouragement from the worker may want to modify
some conditions in their personal environments.
Group attention can be focused on these, with the
members sharing past experiences, ideas on
appropriate behavior, and problem-solving tasks.
• In the case of homogeneous groups, individual
members often find that they have many common
experiences, so that the group’s efforts in dealing
with one members’ personal situation are also
directly relevant to the other members; own
• The group’s effort at modifying conditions in its social
environment which impinge on the whole group may relate to
varied concerns such as the lack or absence of essential
resources (e. g., medical supplies in a government hospital),
unreasonable agency policies and rules, non-observance of
laws and regulations, negative attitudes of service providers,
and hostile attitudes of the outside community. The worker
provides the necessary guidance to the group in its efforts at
being an agent of change.
• The change it seeks is done through information dissemination,
persuasion, bargaining or negotiation, pressure, confrontation,
and other change techniques. The worker may have to perform
varied roles in relation to a group that seeks to modify its social
environment. These roles can include being an information-
giver, facilitator, mediator, counselor, adviser, catalyst, and
consultant
• The group’s ability to act as an agent of
change is affected by the opportunities,
facilities and constraints created or imposed
by its own environment. These opportunities
and facilities include access to technical and
material resources, provision of physical
facilities for group meetings, changes in work
schedules to encourage attendance in a group
meeting, etc. the constraints, on the other
hand, might be imposed by bureaucratic
processes which discourage collective action
and create additional problems, or legal and
other restrictions on group activity.