Effects Of Group Processes Research Articles

Anniversary Reactions in the Therapy Group

From Freud onward, the psychoanalytic literature has offered many references to the idea and significance of past time–specific neuroses and to the subterranean lingering of so–called anniversary emotions. Group therapy is particularly effective in surfacing hidden anniversary reactions that often block the course of treatment. Strikingly, groups can perceive buried associations to long past calendar dates such as traumatic birth and death days, holidays, and past seasonal emotionally–laden responses that patients do not consciously recall or dare articulate. This heightened sensitivity to obscured commemorative syndromes can result from the group interactive process. As such the therapy group can aid in surfacing hidden ghosts far more rapidly than individual therapy might achieve. In this paper illustrations of these anniversary reactions arising in groups are presented and the facilitating effects of group process in identifying and resolving these specific resistances are described.

An Analysis of Groups in Consumer-Centered Programs

This study used a mixed methods approach to describe and analyze data from groups observed in two types of mental health consumer-centered programs, namely consumer-run drop-in centers and clubhouses. An overview of consumer-centered programs is presented, followed by a report of the study which includes a description of the groups in the sample and data on the effects of group process and group leader characteristics on group functioning. Results indicate that, for the most part, the groups were task oriented (e.g., planning events or discussing issues about the center). Psychoeducation and recovery were also frequent topics in the group meetings. In terms of group participation, consumers took on various assignments, served as facilitators, assumed tasks and roles, shared experiences, and provided support to other group participants. A major finding is that group leaders displayed both good and poor leadership behaviors. The good leadership behaviors were often efforts to respond to problematic response...

Predictors of Engagement and Retention into a Parent-Centered, Ecodevelopmental HIV Preventive Intervention for Hispanic Adolescents and their Families

This study examined predictors of engagement and retention into a parent-centered, ecodevelopmental HIV preventive intervention for Hispanic adolescents and their families. The influence of retention on changes in adolescent HIV-risk attitudes was also examined. Participants in this study were 91 Hispanic adolescents and their primary parents. Structural equation modeling was used to identify (a) predictors of initial engagement, (b) the effects of group processes on retention, and (c) the effects of retention on change HIV-risk attitudes in adolescents. Although some participant characteristics predicted engagement, the parent-facilitator relationship quality at the initial contact was found to be the strongest predictor of engagement. Furthermore, within-group processes such as group cohesion positively predicted retention. Finally, parent retention predicted decreases in adolescent HIV-risk attitudes. The results may have important implications for engagement and retention in parent-centered interventions, as well as for reducing risks for HIV transmission in Hispanic adolescents. Implications for services research are also discussed.

Opening up the black box in GSS research: explaining group decision outcome with group process

Group process, a central element of group interaction, has been frequently treated as a black box in many prior Group Support Systems (GSS) studies. Most prior GSS research focused on group outcome and efforts to study group process were relatively limited. As a result, effects of group process on group outcome in GSS use are not fully understood. This study focuses on group process and intends to explain variations in group decision outcome from group influence process. Group process variables investigated were informational influence, normative influence, and influence equality. Group decision outcome variable studied was group consensus. The role of task type was also examined. The research findings indicated that GSS had a complex impact on group decision outcome for two reasons. First, this impact was mediated by group influence process variables. Second, this impact was moderated by task type. The research findings provide an additional clue on why prior GSS empirical studies in the literature yielded inconsistent research findings. The implications of the research findings to GSS researchers and users are finally discussed.

Escalation in groups: Focus on information sampling

The purpose of this experiment was to examine if groups escalate more than individuals when information is not distributed to all group members. The experiment also attempted to replicate Bazerman, Beekun, and Schoorman's (1992) findings, that participants with high responsibility escalate more than participants with low responsibility. The task was a modified version of the Heeley Store Case (Bazerman et al., 1992). The dependent measures fell into three categories: rewards, appropriateness of layoff/demotion, and forecasted future performance. The results showed little support for the hypotheses. First, high responsibility participants escalated significantly more than low responsibility candidates for only one of the six measures. This may have been due to the fact that all participants felt responsible for their decisions. For the other dependent variables, the effect was either not significant or in the wrong direction. Second, no significant interaction was found between responsibility and decision-making context (individual, groups with all shared information, and groups with shared and unshared information). We then analyzed the data using a measure of felt responsibility as a covariate. The interaction between felt responsibility and decision-making context was significant only for layoff decision. For all of the other measures, no significant interaction was found. One possible reason why our hypotheses were not supported may have been that the groups felt a diffusion of responsibility. Larger groups may have also demonstrated the effects of group processes more effectively. No clear conclusions can be made regarding the influence of information sampling on escalation.