Social Work with Groups

• First teachers of group work in the Philippines

  • YMCA
  • Hospicio De San Jose
  • DSWD
  • Philippine School of Social work
• YMCA


  Young Men's Christian Association, founded in London, England, on June 6, 1844, in response to unhealthy social conditions arising in the big cities at the end of the Industrial Revolution, originally aims to put Christian values into practice by developing a healthy "body, mind, and spirit"
• YWCA


  Young Women's Christian Association, a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries, founded by Mary Jane Kinnaird Emma Robarts (1855) in London, United Kingdom
• Socialization goals before the sixties

  • YMCA (1911)
  • YCWA (1926)
  • Boy Scouts of the Philippines (1936)
• Goals of group work in the 1950s


  • PYWCC using groups for preventive and developmental goals through leadership and skills training for OSY
  • Foster Plan Inc. began organizing mother's groups to promote responsible parenthood, vocational efficiency and citizenship training
  • Philippine Mental Health Association already has a community outreach program for the prevention of juvenile delinquency
• Goals of group work in the sixties

  • Mental Health agencies like the Special Child Study Center Inc. organized parent groups to help the participants to understand, accept and deal with their children conditions
  • Government housing and resettlement - to help tenants deal with common concerns and problems and to help them integrate into the surrounding community
  • Contribution of school of social work in the development of social group work
• Goals of group work in the seventies


  • Emphasis on developmental social welfare spurred by the UN's declaration of the First Developmental Decade in the sixties and the Second Developmental Decade in the seventies
  • SW in juvenile and domestic relations courts also used groups to help provide legal offenders with group experiences
  • Period of Martial law – had significant effects on social work education and practice that provoked a great deal of consciousness raising efforts which were aimed at making many rural and urban poor citizens realize that many of their problems were due to deficiencies in social situations
• Present stance of group work

  • Developmental - emphasizes human and community resource mobilization
  • Socialization - intended primarily to help the members to acquire values, attitudes and norms of the members of the society which they are a part
  • Treatment - focuses on the use of small group to help individuals who already have a problem or breakdown in their social functioning
• Group worker should do to have full understanding of individual group members in relation to the group as a whole


  The group worker will guide the group in planning phase and assume flexible stance
• Helping process in social work with groups

  • Assessment
  • Planning
  • Implementation
  • Evaluation
  • Termination
• Pre-group formation activities of social worker

  • Conceptualizing the group service
  • Announcing the group service and recruiting members
  • Preparing logistics
  • Enlisting Community Support
• Individual focused assessment and planning

  • Pre-group intake / interviews
  • Individual Client Profile
  • Case Assessment / Problem Definition
• Group focused assessment and planning

  • Group Composition
  • Group Formation
• Perspectives in analyzing goal formulation

  • Member's Perspectives
  • Worker's Perspectives
  • Group System Perspectives
• Two phases in determination of group goals

  • Exploration
  • Bargaining
• Program media


  Activities, verbal or non-verbal which the group engages to the purpose of achieving its goals
• Uses of program media

  • To modify / change attitude
  • Promote individual values
  • Influence group climate
  • Promote group interaction
  • Enhance/enrich group content
  • Promote desired group values
  • Facilitate the beginning, middle and end stage of group life
• Factors in selection of program media

  • Goals for the group
  • Members objective for joining the group
  • Appropriateness in terms of time and space requirements
  • Age of group members
  • Physical, emotional and social characteristics of members
  • Cultural and ethnic background
  • Mood of the group
  • Availability of materials or resources
  • Worker Skills capacities
• Aspects of plan implementation

  • Interventive Role of Worker
  • Resources and services to be used
  • Problems and Constraint
• Worker's stance during helping process

  • Direct
  • Facilitating
  • Permissive
  • Flexible
• Records to be kept

  • Pre-group / intake interview
  • Individual case assessment
  • Statement of group concern / problems, group goals and plans
  • Attendance records
  • Process or summary recordings of group sessions
  • Records of marginal interview
  • Records of collateral interview
  • Evaluation record
  • Transfer / Closing Summaries
• Stages of termination


  • Pre-termination
  • Termination
  • Post-termination
• Non-functional role emanating from self-centered behavior

  Special Pleading - introducing or supporting ideas related to one's own pet concern<|>Blocking - interfere the progress of the group (reject ideas, unrelated topics)<|>Withdrawing - acting indifferent or passive resorting to excessive formality, doodling or whispering with others<|>Recognition seeking - call everyone's attention (excessive talking, boasting, extreme ideas)<|>Aggression - criticizing / blaming others, hostile (attacking motives, deflating the status)<|>Monopolist / Dominating - assert authority (giving directions, interrupting contributions)
• How groups effect change

  • Group as medium of change
  • Group as target of change
  • Group as agent of change
• In St. Mary Magdalene Colleges of Laguna, a group of students experienced injustice in terms of receiving grades on their subjects. With the same concern and situation, the group decided to meet with the College President and Dean to discuss changing the school policy regarding the grading system.
• An alcoholic attends his first Alcoholic Anonymous meeting post-rehab. He is reluctant to share or participate initially. After several meetings, he becomes an active participant and eventually takes on a leadership role in the group.
• Group as medium of change

  Target of influence = individual member

  Source of influence = group
• Group as target of change


  It is necessary for the group as a whole or certain aspect of the group to change in order to effect change in its members

  Indirect means of influence
• Group as agent of change


  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
• Group as agent of change

  • A group of students experienced injustice in terms of receiving grades and decided to meet with the College President and Dean to discuss changing the school policy regarding the grading system
• Group as medium of change

  • An alcoholic attends his first Alcoholic Anonymous meeting post-rehab, initially reluctant but then able to share motivated by the supportive group
• Group as agent of change

  • High achiever junior high school students showed less interest in studies due to unlimited internet access, so the honor society tried to persuade the school administration to impose limits
• Group as target of change

  • Some instructors observed changes in student behavior like use of coarse language, so the group can be used as the target to change this behavior
• Group as medium of change

  • Some officers initiated a dialogue with advisers to address issues like lax attendance checking and lack of structured activities, using the group as the medium for change
• Program media


  • Important aspect of planning

  Utilized to influence the behavior of individual members and group as a whole
• Program media


  • Group discussions, Role Play, Group Dynamic Exercises, Play Activities, Film Showing, Resource Person, Field Trips, Creative Literature, Values Exercises
• Uses of program media

  To modify/change attitude

  Promote individual values

  Influence group climate

  Promote group interaction

  Enhance/enrich group content

  Promote desired group values

  Facilitate the beginning, middle and end stage of group life
• Selection of program media

  • Goals for the group

  Members' objective for joining the group

  Appropriateness in terms of time and space requirements

  Age of group members

  Physical, emotional and social characteristics of members

  Cultural and ethnic background

  Mood of the group

  Availability of materials or resources

  Worker skills/capacities
• Primary group


  • Justin's closest friends who surprised him with a birthday party
• Reference group


  • Cheerleading squad that Zoe admires and copies hairstyles from