The opening session of a group presents special problems for the group leader. Focuses on structured activities which can serve to reduce these early negative reactions and promote feelings of security, identity, and belongingness in the group members. (Author)

Provides a conceptual model developed to unify the spectrum of task-, socio-, and psycho-group processes used by guidance and counseling personnel. Describes a structure for group leaders to follow within their various group modalities using four distinguishing variables: objective, size, leader behavior, and member behavior and expectations.…

Sociologists and other scholars have long noted that the relationship of friendship contributes to mental health. Consequently, they have developed various interventions to promote friendship, from describing and quantifying it to designing programs to help the friendless. The background upon which groups were designed to promote the development…

Describes the use of caring groups in which nursing students and faculty learn to give and receive care, develop self-awareness and empowerment, and strengthen coping skills. Discusses the centrality of caring in nursing. (SK)

Describes an exercise designed to help individuals and couples explore their attitudes toward extramarital relations, and analyze its causes and consequences. Presents several potential issues which typically develop. Provides guidelines for using the exercise. (RC)

Group gestalt therapy in which the leader facilitates the development of helping capacity in group members is described. The general characteristics of this approach are discussed and ground rules concerning leader and member behaviors are suggested. (RC)

Discusses the interpersonal and organizational underpinnings of group living and residential child care, with group living perceived as an arena for children to practice life's demands. Argues that individual development and change proceed through interpersonal experience and the context in which they occur. (KH)

Presents literature relevant to initial group structure and advances a model of group development based upon personal construct theory. The proposed model illuminates the relationship between initial structure and the psychological processes underlying group development. Research questions are posited to advance empirical tests of the model. (RC)

Examines group relational factors in negotiations regarding humor. Examples from a self-analytic group are discussed. Proposes humor can turn into hostility unless it periodically comes under negotiation and efforts are made to place it under normative regulation. (JAC)

Describes the Systems Marriage Enrichment Program which was developed from the systems concepts of circular causality, the identification of predictable interaction patterns, and the adaptive and homeostatic mechanisms. Presents a protocol process consisting of five phases with goals and techniques. (Author)

This paper addresses the use of one technique, role play, in the resolution of conflictual situations at various levels in the school system. While a variety of options for dealing with conflict are discussed, primary emphasis is given to that method which resolves the conflict and leaves the relationship intact. The method of role play and its…

Presents secondary students' perceptions of cooperative learning (CL) in an attempt to understand how and why CL benefits students affectively and cognitively. After describing the structure of learning and schooling, the article discusses how CL promotes positive interdependence, social skills, work skills, and individual accountability. (SM)

The purposes of this paper are to note specific weaknesses characterizing small group research and to propose suggestions for their solution. Adapted from a speech given at the Second National Conference about the Teaching of Group: Theory and Practice, Temple University, Philadelphia, February 1976. (Author)

Presents a framework that identifies variables associated with relationship dynamics that exist between older persons and their social network members. Suggests framework can be used by case managers to help them assess the characteristics and functioning of their clients' social network relations and develop service strategies that maximize the…

Presents an adaptation of an organization development approach (OD) used successfully in business and industry. OD can supply counselors in other group settings with a systematic approach to effective conflict resolution. No step can be eliminated or dealt with in a haphazard manner. (Author/BEF)