A Psychoeducational Group for Adult Children of Alcoholics

The authors describe a campus-based psychoeducational support group for adult children of alcoholics. Group goals are outlined, recruitment procedures identified, and sessions described and evaluated. This successful group format could easily be adapted to other settings and age groups (e.g., high schools, community mental health centers).     

A Community Support Group for Single Custodial Fathers

Within the context of an identified need for establishing a support group for single custodial fathers, this article discusses a five-session group experience that included such topics as dating, remarriage, homemaking and house maintenance, and the effects of divorce on children.     

A Group Design for Adult Female Survivors of Childhood Incest

This paper will describe short term groups for women sexually molested as children. The goals of such a group were to provide an atmosphere in which women could discuss the experience of sexual abuse, explore the consequences of incest, be exposed to the probably phases of recovery and discuss practical coping skills. The design of the group is detailed, as are recommendations and relevant issues for therapists. Women's responses to the group, such as increase in self-esteem, trust level, assertiveness and confrontation with the abuser, are also discussed.     

Socialization to Civil Society: A Life History Study of Community Leaders

Books reviewed:
Socialization to Civil Society: A Life History Study of Community Leaders. By Peter Robert Sawyer. Albany, NY: SUNY Press. 2005. 160 pp. Reviewed by Marilyn Hoskin University of New Hampshire     

Communal Orientation and Burnout Among Self-Help Group Leaders

To assess the relationship between burnout, communal orientation, and leaders' perceptions of balance in their relationships with group members 102 self-help group leaders were interviewed. Leaders had low to moderate levels of burnout as measured by the Maslach Burnout Inventory subscales of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment. As hypothesized, leaders' communal orientation was negatively related to the burnout subscales of depersonalization and personal accomplishment. Contrary to the study hypothesis, burnout was not related to balance. It was speculated that the salience of need-based norms in the group's helping relationships reduced expectations of reciprocity. The findings illustrate the usefulness of applying equity theory to studies of helping relationships within the setting of self-help groups.     

Systems Approaches to Occupational Vocal Health: Considerations for Community Faith Leaders

Journal of Religion and Health - Systems thinking approaches can benefit the occupational vocal health of vocally reliant workers. This paper explores community faith leaders as an example of a...     

Group Premarital Counseling Using a Premarital Assessment Questionnaire: Evaluation from Group Leaders

No research to date addresses premarital assessment questionnaire (PAQ) use within group settings. The current study evaluated the benefits and drawbacks of group use of one PAQ (the RELATE Inventory). Results were obtained via semi-structured interviews of group leaders and indicate overall leader agreement on the perceived desirability, benefits, and drawbacks of using PAQs in group premarital efforts. Recommended principles/guidelines for effective group PAQ use are organized into four categories: PAQ Considerations, Group Leader Considerations, Couple Considerations, and Group Content/Process Considerations.     

Support Groups for Suicide Survivors: Results of a Survey of Group Leaders

To update and expand Rubey and McIntosh's (1996) survivors of suicide support groups report, SPAN USA completed a survey of U.S. support group leaders (n = 100; 24% completion). There are now more survivor groups (from 280 to 417), and the majority of groups now have a survivor leader (78% vs. 25%). Groups continue to be small (88% < 10 members per session) and meet on a monthly basis (55%). Sharing continues to be a universal experience in groups, which tend to be open‐ended (85%). Current groups are newer, and more operate without a sponsor. Further research is needed to examine group member perspectives and effectiveness of groups.     

Constructing a Tree for Community Leaders: Contexts and Processes in Collaborative Inquiry

This paper presents collaborative research between a university-based team and a grass roots community organization on the south side of Chicago. The purpose of the work is to document the nature of community leadership as expressed by members of the host organization. Using a semistructured interview, 77 community members nominated by the host organization were asked about various aspects of their community work. Qualitative analyses of interview text generated a set of 56 codes concerning different aspects of community leadership as reported by grassroots leaders. These codes were subsequently grouped together into five conceptually linked dimensions of community leadership. A leadership tree that simultaneously analyzes and visually displays each of these five dimensions of community leadership was created. Implications of the methodology used to create the leadership tree are discussed for the salience of qualitative methods in community research.     

Resilience in Community: A Social Ecological Development Model for Young Adult Sexual Minority Women

Family support and rejection are associated with health outcomes among sexual minority women (SMW). We examined a social ecological development model among young adult SMW, testing whether identity risk factors or outness to family interacted with family rejection to predict community connectedness and collective self‐esteem. Lesbian and bisexual women (N = 843; 57 % bisexual) between the ages of 18–25 (M = 21.4; SD = 2.1) completed baseline and 12‐month online surveys. The sample identified as White (54.2 %), multiple racial backgrounds (16.6 %), African American (9.6 %) and Asian/Asian American (3.1 %); 10.2 % endorsed a Hispanic/Latina ethnicity. Rejection ranged from 18 to 41 % across family relationships. Longitudinal regression indicated that when outness to family increased, SMW in highly rejecting families demonstrated resilience by finding connections and esteem in sexual minority communities to a greater extent than did non‐rejected peers. But, when stigma concerns, concealment motivation, and other identity risk factors increased over the year, high family rejection did not impact community connectedness and SMW reported lower collective self‐esteem. Racial minority SMW reported lower community connectedness, but not lower collective self‐esteem. Families likely buffer or exacerbate societal risks for ill health. Findings highlight the protective role of LGBTQ communities and normative resilience among SMW and their families.     

Community Counseling in an Adult Education Setting

An innovative Community Counseling Project was initiated as part of the federally funded Adult Consumer Homemaking Project in Great Neck, N.Y. Project participants are recruited from the disadvantaged community, (i.e. those whose needs are not being met by community services or agencies). These include the low income, foreign bom, senior citizens, mentally and physically handicapped, unemployed, school drop outs, teenage or single parents, socially isolated. While they were already learning skills to help improve the quality of their lives, an unmet need was expressed by many participants—the need for private, one-to-one communication. Thus, a supportive counseling program of four to six sessions was established on a no-fee basis. Careful records were kept, evaluation made, and follow-up pursued.     

Adult Israeli Community Norms for the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI)

The study aim is to establish Israeli norms for the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI). A nationwide representative sample of 510 community respondents (age range 35–65, 51.4% women) completed the Hebrew version of the BSI. The data showed high internal reliabilities for the 9 BSI scales, as well as for their total score, indicated by the General Severity Index (GSI). Higher levels of GSI were found for widowed, divorced, and single respondents than for married respondents. Higher GSI was also found for unemployed and retired men than the self-employed and employees, validating the GSI as a measure of distress. Most importantly, the scores of the Israeli GSI, as well as each of the 9 scales, were higher than those reported in either the U.S. or the British norms. These findings may indicate that Israeli society is experiencing relatively high distress, highlighting the need for establishing BSI norms for each culture.     

Rough and Tumble Play in the Adult Group

Rough and tumble play’s function and purpose in the relational group are explored. This mode of communication involves mild roughhousing in its childhood form and verbal sparring and mild teasing in adults. Multiple uses in group therapy for this type of play exist. Although group leaders have used this mode of communication for the past 50 years, it has yet to be fully recognized and conceptualized as such. The developmental benefits of rough and tumble play come to life through case examples as they occur in different levels of group: member to leader, leader to member, and member to member.     

Group Leaders as Gatekeepers: Testing Safety Climate Variations across Levels of Analysis

This paper tests the moderating effect of transformational supervisory leadership on the relationship between organisational and group climates, using safety climate in risky operations as an exemplar. Results indicated that under low or poor organisational climate, indicative of limited organisational commitment to employee safety, transformational leaders promoted a higher group climate as compared to the organisational climate. Similarly, under a weak organisational climate, indicative of limited consensus among company employees regarding the priority of safety, transformational leaders promoted a stronger group climate, reflecting greater consensus among group members. This pattern suggests that supervisory leaders can act as gatekeepers, with transformational leaders offering better protection against potentially harmful organisation‐level priorities. Furthermore, transformational supervisors better informed their members of the organisational priorities as they perceived them, resulting in a stronger relationship between individual supervisors' perceptions and members' organisational climate perceptions. Implications for climate and leadership research are discussed. On s'intéresse dans cet article à l'impact régulateur du leadership hiérarchique de transformation sur la relation entre les climats organisationnels et de groupe en utilisant comme exemple la sécurité dans les opérations à risque. Les résultats montrent qu'en cas de climat organisationnel médiocre signifiant une implication organisationnelle minimale à propos de la sécurité du personnel, les leaders de transformation favorisent l'émergence d'un climat de groupe plus satisfaisant que le climat organisationnel. De même, si le climat organisationnel est fragile, traduisant un accord approximatif des salariés sur la prioritéà accorder à la sécurité, les leaders de transformation sont à l'origine d'un climat de groupe renforcé, expression d'un meilleur consensus parmi les membres du groupe. Ce schéma laisse penser que les leaders hiérarchiques peuvent intervenir comme gardiens, les leaders de transformation offrant une meilleure protection contre les priorités organisationnelles potentiellement nocives. De plus, les managers de transformation informent mieux leur équipe des priorités organisationnelles telles qu'ils les perçoivent, ce qui provoque une relation plus étroite entre les perceptions personnelles du manager et celles que son groupe a du climat organisationnel. On réfléchit aux retombées de ce travail sur les recherches portant sur le climat et le leadership.     

Group Therapy as an Ecological Bridge to New Community for Trauma Survivors

Abstract

Group therapy counteracts the isolating effects of interpersonal trauma and enables survivors to connect with sources of resilience within themselves and others. By providing an alternative relational experience in which the survivor and her safety are valued, groups empower members to establish self-affirming and supportive relationships in their outside lives. The current paper reviews the psychological impact of chronic interpersonal violence and the relevant literature regarding group therapy for trauma survivors. We describe an approach to group treatment for complexly traumatized patients developed at the Victims of Violence Program, and through a clinical vignette, illustrate some of the ways in which group therapy can expand the relational world of survivors.     

Reducing STD/HIV Stigmatizing Attitudes Through Community Popular Opinion Leaders in Chinese Markets

Reducing STDs and HIV/AIDS incidence requires campaigns designed to change knowledge, attitudes, and practices of risky sexual behavior. In China, a significant obstacle to such changes is the stigma associated with these diseases. Thus 1 campaign intervention strategy is to train credible community leaders to discuss these issues in everyday social venues. This study tested the effectiveness of such an approach on reducing HIV/AIDS stigma, across 2 years, from a sample of over 4,500 market vendors, in 3 conditions. Results showed an increasing growth in market communication about intervention messages, and concomitant declines in stigmatizing attitudes, across time, with the greatest changes in community popular opinion leaders, significant changes in intervention nonopinion leaders, and little change in the control markets.     

A Validation of the Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits in a Community Sample of Young Adult Males

Callous-unemotional (CU) traits have been shown to delineate a subgroup of individuals at high risk for exhibiting severe and persistent criminal behavior. The Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits (ICU; Frick 2004) was recently developed as a comprehensive rating scale designed to measure multiple facets of CU traits. However, validation of this measure has been limited to youth in adolescence and emerging adulthood (age range?=12–20), leaving questions about the utility of this measure in early adulthood unanswered. The current study evaluated the factor structure of the ICU within a racially diverse and well characterized community sample of adult males (n?=?425) using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). While results found the best fitting model to be the three-bifactor structure that has been previously reported in adolescent samples, the fit indices were only marginally acceptable and suggest the need for scale refinement. Total and subscales scores demonstrated significant and distinct associations with relevant external criteria (e.g., delinquency, psychopathy, psychopathology, psychosocial functioning). Implications and directions for future research are discussed.