Abstract
BackgroundGroup therapies are routinely provided for patients with severe mental illness. The factors important to the group experience of patients are still poorly understood and are rarely measured. To support further research and practice, we aimed to develop a questionnaire that captures how patients experience groups within a community mental health context.MethodsAn initial pool of 39 items was conceptually generated to assess different aspects of group experiences. Items were completed by 166 patients with severe mental illness attending group therapies in community mental health services in Italy. Patients with different psychiatric diagnoses who attended at least 5 group sessions were included. An exploratory factor analysis was used to identify different dimensions of group experiences and to reduce the number of items for each dimension.ResultsThe resulting questionnaire has five subscales: 1) sharing of emotions and experiences, 2) cognitive improvement, 3) group learning, 4) difficulties in open expression and 5) relationships. Each subscale has 4 items. The scale and sub-scales have good internal consistency.ConclusionsThe Ferrara Group Experiences Scale is conceptually derived and assesses dimensions of group experience that are theoretically and practically relevant. It is brief, easy to use and has good psychometric properties. After further validation, the scale may be used for research into patient experiences across different group therapy modalities and for evaluation in routine care.
Highlights
Group therapies are routinely provided for patients with severe mental illness
It has been suggested that group experiences can be a powerful agent of change and efficacy has been demonstrated across a range of approaches
A scale was developed that assessed group experiences of 166 patients with severe mental illness from three Italian community mental health centres
Summary
Group therapies are routinely provided for patients with severe mental illness. Since the introduction of therapeutic communities in the 1940s, group treatments have become a common part of care for patients with severe mental illness [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]. Yalom’s studies of the essential mechanisms for change common to group treatments [20,21] identified eleven factors consisting of: 1) instillation of hope, 2) universality, 3) imparting of information, 4) altruism, 5) the corrective recapitulation of the primary family group, 6) development of socializing techniques, 7) imitative behaviour, 8) interpersonal learning, 9) group cohesiveness, 10) catharsis, and 11) existential factors. Cohesiveness, universality and self-understanding were indicated as most important in the group experience [23]
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