Assessment in the Practice of Social Group Work

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Assessment in the Practice of Social Group Work

• Lita D. Allen
• Lecturer
• SW38C Applied Social Group Work
• Department of Sociology, Psychology and Social
  Work
• The University of the West Indies, Mona Campus

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• Reference
• Toseland, R. W. Rivas, R. F. (2005). An
  introduction to group work practice (5th. Ed.).
  Boston, MA Allyn Bacon.
• Chapter 8, pp. 219 - 253

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General Definition

• Assessment is a holistic (biological,
  psychological, social, cultural, spiritual,
  environmental) approach to understanding
  particular practice situations in order to plan
  effective interventions.

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General Definition

• Assessment is both a process and a product
  upon which the helping process is based.
  (Siporin, 1975)

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Group Assessment

• As a process, assessment involves gathering,
  organizing and making judgments about
  information.
• As a product, assessment is a verbal or written
  statement of the functioning of the group and its
  members, which is useful in the development of
  intervention plans.
• 
  p. 219

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Group Assessment

• Assessments are made at all stages of the group
• The process, however, is most dominant at the
  beginning stage
• The purpose is to ensure an early understanding
  of how individuals and the group as a whole are
  functioning

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Issues in the Assessment Process

• What kind of information?
• How much information?
• What are the real issues raised by each member
  and by the group as a whole?
• What should be the assessment focus?
• How can I avoid diagnostic labelling?
• p. 221 - 224

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Areas of Assessment

• The functioning of
• Individual group member
• The group as a whole
• The group environment
• The leader / leadership of the group
• with special attention to
• the interactional forces (the total dynamics)
  and the
• here-and-now of group interaction (the group
  process)

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Determine your theoretical orientation

• For example
• Psychodynamic
• Systems
• Field / Group Dynamics
• Learning
• Social Exchange
• Transactional Analysis etc.
• N.B. Note similarities and differences. What
  would be the value of an integrative approach?

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Assessing the Functioning of Individual Group
Members

• What to Assess
• Current functioning in the group
• Members functioning from a developmental
  perspective
• How the personal characteristics of each member
  (race, culture, gender, age) interact with
  functional abilities

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Assessing the Functioning of Individual Group
Members

• Areas of Assessment
• Intrapersonal (self)
• Interpersonal (others)
• Extrapersonal (environment)

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Assessing the Functioning of Individual Group
Members

• How to Assess
• Self-observation
• Worker observation
• Report by others
• Standardized instruments
• pp.
  224-232

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Assessing the Functioning of the Group as a Whole

• Areas of Assessment (Utilize the 4 major areas of
  group dynamics)
• Communication and interaction patterns
• Cohesion
• Control mechanisms at the social level also
  referred to as Social integration and influence
  dynamics norms, roles (p. 234) status
  hierarchies
• Culture of the group
• Chapter 3,
  pp. 64-91

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Assessing the Functioning of the Group as a Whole

• How to Assess (Structured methods vs Subjective
  Observations)
• Measuring communication and interaction (Semantic
  differential scale)
• Measuring interpersonal attraction and cohesion
• (Sociometry)
• Measuring social controls and group culture
• (Bales SYMLOG)
• NB Students are not required to learn these
  methods.
• pp. 232-244

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Assessing the Groups Environment

• Focus of Assessment
• Environmental factors that affect individual
  group members
• Environmental influences on the functioning of
  the entire group

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Assessing the Groups Environment

• What and How to Assess
• The organization that sponsors and sanctions the
  group. Assess in relation to
• - Purpose of organization
• - Policies regarding recruitment and intake of
  potential members
• - Status of worker in organization
• - Allocation of resources
• - Commitment to a particular service technology

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Assessing the Groups Environment

• What and How to Assess
• The Interorganizational Environment
• - Are other organizations doing similar work?
• - How similar or different are other
  organizations perceptions of group needs,
  issues, and solutions?
• - What are the benefits to be gained by linking
  with groups in other organizations?
• Why is it important to let other organizations
  know what you are doing?

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Assessing the Groups Environment

• What and How to Assess
• The Community Environment
• - What is the extent of support for the group
  from other community groups?
• - What is the attitude of the community to the
  problems or issues being raised by the group?
• - What might be the level of stigmatization?
• pp. 244-249

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Assessing the Leader / Leadership of the Group

• Use of power bases
• Style of leadership
• Role and functions
• Demonstration of specific leadership skills
• Co-leadership skills
• What interventions were made to deal with issues
  raised and how effective were these interventions?

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• The purpose of doing a comprehensive group
  assessment is to ensure that effective
  interventions are selected as part of a
  comprehensive treatment or action plan.
• See Figure 8.6
  on p. 250