Group Size & Cohesion
This type of therapy group is most sensitive to the effects of group size on cohesion and outcomes.
What is a process-oriented psychotherapy group?
Shulman defines the group as this type of helping system.
What is a mutual-aid system?
This term describes the tendency for groups to split along identity lines such as race and gender.
What are identity-based faultlines?
In group therapy, confidentiality cannot be fully guaranteed because of this structural reality.
What is multiple members sharing responsibility for privacy?
A client with social anxiety feels overwhelmed in a 14-member process group. The best structural adjustment would be this.
What is placement in a smaller group?
Research suggests that this group size characteristic is generally associated with stronger cohesion and improved clinical outcomes.
What is a smaller group size?
This phenomenon occurs when members recognize shared struggles and realize they are not alone.
Answer: What is the “all-in-the-same-boat” phenomenon?
Research found that stronger gendered racial faultlines predicted lower rates of this outcome.
What is treatment completion (or attendance)?
When marginalized members experience higher dropout rates, this ethical principle requires examination of systemic causes.
What is justice (or equity)?
When new members join a rolling group, this early intervention can reduce subgrouping risks.
What is structured cross-member engagement (or intentional inclusion strategies)?
This therapeutic mechanism becomes more accessible in smaller groups because members have more airtime and visibility.
What is corrective emotional experience (or in-the-moment interpersonal feedback)?
In the preliminary phase, the worker serves as this mediator between the individual and the group-as-a-whole.
What is a mediator of individual–group interaction?
This group of members was found to be especially vulnerable to dropout when faultlines were strong.
Who are women and racial–ethnic minority members?
A social worker should FIRST do this when noticing subgrouping patterns affecting cohesion.
What is name and explore the group process?
If members speak only to the facilitator and not each other, the worker should encourage this behavior.
What is member-to-member interaction?
When agencies increase group size primarily for financial efficiency, this ethical principle may be at risk.
What is client welfare (or nonmaleficence)?
This group process involves members both supporting and challenging one another toward growth.
What is mutual support and mutual demand?
In rolling admission groups, faultline strength in one session predicted lower likelihood of this in the next session.
What is attendance at the following session?
Ignoring subgrouping dynamics may unintentionally reinforce this harmful outcome.
What is exclusion (or marginalization)?
When financial pressures push for larger groups despite reduced cohesion, the social worker should do this.
What is advocate using empirical research and monitor outcomes?
This moderator variable has been identified as an area needing further research when examining how group size affects outcomes.
Answer: What are participant characteristics (e.g., attachment style or interpersonal functioning)?
When a group develops norms that discourage openness or helping, Shulman would describe this as a failure to develop this.
What is a culture for work?
This theoretical concept explains how the group acts as a microsociety reflecting broader power hierarchies.
What is intersectionality (or social identity theory applied to group dynamics)?
Tracking attendance disparities by race and gender would be considered this type of ethical practice.
What is quality improvement aligned with social justice?
The most comprehensive response to declining attendance among women of color in a large rolling group would include reducing size and this additional step.
What is explicitly addressing subgrouping dynamics and restructuring engagement?