Abstract
This counseling group explores the numerous dimensions of a developing female adolescent identity while also encouraging a high degree of self-esteem. Adolescence is a period of life defined by significant identity issues and low self-esteem, especially for females (Pringle et al., 2016). As a result, this 12-week counseling group will use the social theory to support the investigation of group members’ identities. The theory is based on a Behaviorist, Abilities, Holistic Approach to Counseling. In helping boosting group members’ self-esteem, insight meditation, Counseling, commitment, acceptance therapy, and creative arts therapies will be implemented by leaders. The ultimate purpose of the group system is to prepare participants to develop a better understanding of their worth, enhance themselves, and give them a wide toolbox of advanced skills to support them on their journey to adulthood
Group
Description
The psychoeducational group seeks to improve members’ affective, cognitive and behavioral knowledge through a defined set of followed measures both within and between meetings. Activities will be organized considering various subjects and in an outlined fashion; however, they will strike a bearing between therapeutic demands and participants’ education. Lastly, leaders’ creation of lesson plans should be facilitated to allow participants time to debate and figure out the numerous treatments and themes discussed.
Rationale
Adolescence is a timeframe in which individuals are increasingly interested in finding out themselves. Interactions with peers are common for youth to examine their self-concept and improve themselves (Betts et al., 2018). Self-esteem is then formed due to one’s interactions with others, activities, and the ideas one learns about him/her. Considering this, group counseling sessions with targets of adolescents building a feeling of self are common.
There is no better place for students to study than among their peers, and as a result, school counselors can enhance students’ learning via group activities. In addition, many various kinds of group counseling treatments have been effectively used with teenagers who are more likely to have poor self-esteem, according to them. To back up this claim, researchers examined the efficacy of individual vs. group treatment for improving self-esteem in 37 female adolescents aged 12 to 15 who had been sexually abused (Newark et al., 2016). One week after the group therapy ended, they discovered that individuals in the group counseling condition had substantially greater levels of self-esteem than those in the solo counseling condition.
Another research looked at the impact of a functional group therapy intervention on the self-worth and self-efficacy of 43 low-achieving students (Matteucci et al., 2021). They discovered that group counseling in a school context was pleasant for kids and created an environment conducive to good participant learning. Additionally, they discovered that when referred to their peers who did not finish the active counseling involvement, the 43 students who engaged in the practical counseling assistance had vastly enhanced levels of self-worth and self-efficacy.
Lastly, a usability testing of 116 research focused on various team management in improving kids, and teen self was performed to obtain a clear picture of the efficacy of peer counseling treatments in increasing self-esteem in teenagers. 84.5 percent of these researches were conducted on a population of kids or teenagers. They deduced from their review that: (a) major improvements were unlikely if the assistance was not explicitly aimed at improving self; (b) while many of respondents seemed to gain from measures intended to increase self-esteem, there were distinct kinds of polarizing issue; and (c) coping strategies led by a self-esteem expert was more effective, and (d) intervention programs guided by a self-esteem expert were more effective; and (e) intervention programs guided by a self-esteem expert were more This knowledge is critical to the growth of a counseling group designed to increase self-esteem in teens because it illustrates the effectiveness of group therapy mechanisms, desire for focusing on self, and stresses the advantage of grounding this group activity within a potential treatment basis using scientific proof initiatives.
Group Overview
Aim of the group
The group’s goal is to boost self-esteem by investigating identity, focusing on the dealing self. The Indivisible Self-concept of wellbeing includes five factors: the physical self, coping self, social self, creative self, and essential. Exploration of members’ current strengths and talents and the introduction of new skills will be emphasized. The program will build self-esteem that is internally motivated and provide coping techniques based on the acceptance and commitment training (ACT) model. In addition, abilities vision of oneself will be fostered, along with mindfulness skills.
Educational based objective
The targeted learning outcomes for the psych-educational aims and resources utilized in this program are listed below to validate how this program fulfills curricular objectives.
Firstly is the Wellness choices: implement coping techniques while dealing with various rates of emotional, physical, erotic, and social development; evaluate the mass media contents and tactics to encourage particular body images and personal decisions; evaluate and establish plans to minimize the effects of stereotyping on physical appearance; define and convey beliefs and values that influence healthy decisions; enhance social strategy to cope with stressors to get a certain look/lifestyle; identify and investigate possible sources of emotional, physical, and social support.
Secondly are the choices of relationship: choose and incorporate long-term tactics for controlling feelings; enhance social tactics for dealing with change/stress; assess how thinking patterns influence feelings; evaluate the necessity of short-term and long-term assistance for psychological distress; analyze, evaluate, and refine relationship choices (Nasheeda et al., 2019). Finally, analyze and practice giving and receiving constructive criticism; investigate the impact of one’s self-concept on interpersonal interactions; create and show family relationship-building and enhancement methods: Examine the advantages of cultivating a range of connections throughout one’s life cycle; create methods for maintaining and improving good intergenerational connections; hone group goal-setting abilities; identify the qualities of a successful leader and group member, as well as exhibit their abilities; assess group performance, and develop ways to enhance group effectiveness.
Lastly, the learning methods include identifying personal abilities and skill areas for future growth, analyzing effects on decision making, and identifying and developing strategies to overcome potential obstacles to goal achievement.
Counseling Orientation
The “Adlerian Individual Psychology and Community Work” paradigm, ACT, insight meditation cognitive therapy, and person-centered expressive art treatments will be included in this curriculum. In addition, “The Indivisible Self Model of Wellness’s” will be utilized, which is incorporates Adler’s psychoanalytic theory and bridge research on healthy participants’ features (Nowdehi et al., 2018). The paradigm emphasizes a strengths-based approach to psychotherapy and adheres to Adlerian’s “holistic” perspective of the person. The method is also comparable to other Individual Psychology-influenced programs in that it emphasizes self-empowerment via the discovery and proper utilization of personal assets, strengths, and personal relationships.
Five Wellness Factors: Addressing the Indivisible Self
According to research, adapting self, public self, and creative self, in that order, had the greatest “chances for influencing elements of self” (Sweeney, 2019). The group will incorporate training focused on ACT approaches to handle the adaptive self, defined as recreation, realistic belief, self-worth, and stress reduction. To counteract negative thinking patterns, the team will also engage in conventional CBT exercises. Exploration of the team’s social media and how this connects to self-esteem will be emphasized to understand the various aspects. Exploration of members’ cultural identity, religious identity, and ethical choices will be emphasized in order to address the fundamental self. Exploring members’ body image with an emphasis on learning various methods to cope with/change negative emotions participants may have about their appearance will address the physical self. Finally, the group will use individual-centered descriptive art therapy to help with mindfulness techniques, making appropriate treatments, and innovative self-exploration.
Main Topic of discussion
The first topic will look at self-esteem from a holistic standpoint, taking into account health aspects. The development of mindfulness-based stress-reduction techniques is the second topic. Finally, the creative self-factor is used to investigate personal strengths, decisions, and social relationships.
Number, Length, and Frequency of the Sessions
The group is a 12-time team treatment aspect for teenage females between the ages of fifteen and sixteen. A screening and referral procedure will be used to identify participants. Furthermore, the group is closed, with members required to stick with it until the conclusion. Each class will last three hours and take place once a week.
Group Size
The group will consist of 6 to 8 people, which is a good size for everyone to participate in and promotes group cohesiveness.
Group Evaluation
An essential component of reflective, competent, and moral practice is evaluation. “Team leaders are required to process the team’s activities with group participants, colleagues and themselves,” according to the ASGW Best Practice Guidelines. Following each session, both moderators will undertake 30 minutes of analyzing and assessing, reviewed by managers (Berg et al., 2017). The facilitators of the group will also conduct weekly response evaluations with the participants. Team participants will be requested to complete a weekly feedback assessment form after each session. The method will be used to determine how participants feel about the process and if any adjustments to future sessions or issues need to be addressed. In gathering information about the group members’ overall experience, utilization of the final assessment will take place.
Several standardized exams will also be utilized to assess the program’s success; they’ll be finished in the meeting. They may be used to determine activity effectiveness, get more financing, verify that goals are fulfilled, and track participant growth. The anonymous group members’ feedback and the group assessment findings utilized in this program will be collected at the conclusion of the activities and presented as a full report to the team facilitators overseeing organization. In maintaining anonymity and protect participants’ privacy, identifiable information about the evaluations utilized will be deleted. This information will be used to determine if any programming changes or group offers should be made.
Post Group meeting
Debriefing is necessary after group therapy to check that members are doing well even without assistance. A follow-up session might also give you the time you need to complete post-group evaluation and assessments. These evaluations and assessments are critical for establishing the efficacy of team treatment and giving facilitators meaningful input on the participants’ experiences.
Post-group evaluations and assessments are also used to hold moderators accountable and change the structure and organization of the next groups. Furthermore, post-group sessions can allow individuals to address any regrets they may have and lessen any psychological dangers associated with group therapy (Andreis et al., 2018). The ASGW’s best practice recommendations also urge a follow-up meeting, stating that “later following engagement with team participants is essential to measure results.”
Theoretical Approach
According to the Social Comparison Theory, humans are wired to compare themselves to others to make decisions. The notion states that we appraise ourselves based on what we observe in others. People make physical decisions about themselves, but they also make decisions about their talents and opinions based on the opinions of others. It also implies that when individuals or groups have a lot of variances, there is less comparison.
The theory makes other key points. It indicates, for example, that nonsocial measures of comparison, such as school grades, are accessible to provide an objective measure of ability; nevertheless, if those means were not available, humans would make decisions exclusively based on one another’s talents. The social comparison allows for self-evaluation and a desire to improve oneself, which can have both positive and bad consequences. For example, a desire to improve oneself through physical activity can boost self-esteem, which is a good outcome of social comparison. On the other hand, a negative outcome of social comparison is the development of an eating disorder to improve one’s body image.
According to the Social Comparison Theory, social comparison can occur in both upward and downward orientations. Individuals and groups, in other words, utilize social comparison to identify who they are “better than” and who they are “worse than.” it can result in positive and bad changes in the individual or group (Anne-Marie, 2016). There is a substantial relationship between self-esteem and body image in early adolescent girls and the Social Comparison Theory. Therefore, this psychoeducational group will feature the delivery of a program that directly addresses body image and self-esteem, disrupting the idea of using social and physical comparison to judge one’s appearance.
Detailed Description of Group Norms, Rules, and Guidelines
Introduction
Group norms are standards or principles that describe how team members should perceive and act. They evaluate if certain acts are appropriate, good, right, or suitable. For example, norms might relate to how persons act, dress, or converse with one another.
Some conventions govern how a group as a whole will behave, such as when and how often it will meet. Others are concerned with individual group members’ conduct and the roles they perform within the group. Norms can help a group run smoothly and deal with the dispute without splitting apart by specifying what social behavior is within acceptable parameters. Managing teams is a winning method. As a result, they can be a powerful force for encouraging positive contact among group members.
Therefore, group facilitators have ethical challenges that are distinct from those found in individual Counseling. As a result, in addition to adhering to a code of ethics that rules how group facilitators express themselves in personal counseling circumstances, they should also follow a code of ethics formed expressly for teamwork. Co-facilitation issues: Learning of team leaders; group identity issues; function of group leader values; confidentiality; dual roles use of team interventions; and controversies affecting consultation, recommendation, and dissolution are all ethical concerns typical in a group therapy situation.
Since this group will occur in a school context and will be conducted by a teacher-counselor, there may be some inevitable dual roles. All of the many functions that these team leaders may have to act will be explicitly indicated and discussed with team members at various stages during the group’s activities. The following will describe how the group’s leaders will manage co-leading concerns, sub-groups, and the training rules that these leaders will follow.
Co-facilitation issues
Co-facilitating counseling groups have several advantages, including diverse perspectives on what is going on in the team interaction and how to continue, pooling unit obligations, practicing appropriate habits for participants, and offering support to each other. Furthermore, in independently led therapy teams, the moderator cannot catch up with all that is going on, and crucial nonverbal indicators from participants may be overlooked. Conversely, the co-facilitation of teams can have several drawbacks, the most common of which are problems with member relationships, competition between leaders, inadequate communication, and overreliance on a single leader. Also, concerns were raised about the possibility of competitiveness and the modeling of inappropriate co-facilitator relationships.
To avoid any ethical concerns arising from leading this counseling group, these leaders will allocate 30 minutes after each group meeting to discuss the situation in each group meeting. Their responses to each other and the conceptions of their weaknesses and strengths as group facilitators.
Sub-Groups
Many team members may have earlier friendships due to class factors or build relationships and spend extra time together during school breaks. Sub-teams are an essential issue to discuss in the school environment. Many team members may have previous relationships because of being in the same school environment or develop relationships and begin to spend additional time together during school breaks. Sub-groups can improve group cohesiveness if their goals align with the overarching goals of the group. Subgrouping, on the other hand, can indicate enmity against the group or its leaders and a problem in the group’s development. Additionally, while subgrouping can have both negative and positive therapeutic effects, it can also be beneficial: the way subgrouping is addressed can impact the group.
Group Facilitator Training Guidelines
Practitioners of group counseling must have completed a fundamental group training component. As a result, group workers understand that ethical practice necessitates ongoing professional development, training, and supervision. Furthermore, part of ethical group practice (or any counseling practice) involves actively engaging in self-reflection and being conscious of one’s values and how they may influence relationships with other group members, co-facilitators, and therapies are chosen. If concerns occur throughout the group’s existence that might be better addressed in this way, both group facilitators are committed to pursuing personal treatment. As a result, individual treatment can help group trainees recognize countertransference, blind spots, and biases. Own therapy can also assist group therapists in better understanding themselves and other group members and using their characteristics more successfully in a group context.
Informed Consent
The informed consent procedure necessitates the explicit manifestation of permission by a capable individual and sufficient information disclosure regarding the study. Capable participants who can understand the research-related material should make their own decisions and provide their permission to participate in the study. Circumstances of medical urgency or getting permission from “vulnerable” people and minors may provide practical difficulties acquiring informed consent from the real subject.
Individuals must be granted access to survey data such that they may decide whether to engage as study participants on their own. Details given to a research topic for morally clear consent should include details about the condition of health for recreation of the research; the anticipated timeframe of the participant’s participation; information of the purpose and nature of the research; and a clear explanation of study procedure or treatment and any test method. During the information disclosure, the subject must be given a declaration stating that he or she has the right to exit anytime from the study without penalty. In the event of research studies involving minors, incapacitated people who cannot provide informed permission, illiterate communities, and so on, specific information should be given.
A clinician or other people with relevant scientific knowledge and skills should give data for this research. When acquiring informed permission from a subject, the venue where the written consent is expressed, and the person’s emotional, physical, and psychological capacity must all be noted.
Prescreening Process
The “Coopersmith Self-Esteem School Inventory Short Form” will be used to evaluate the degree of self-esteem of prospective group participants. While this instrument is most often utilized in children aged eight to fifteen, it has been implemented in schools for learners up to nineteen years. The “Coopersmith Self-Esteem School Inventory Short Form” is a 20-question survey that takes around 15 to 20 minutes to finish and is used for attitudes evaluation about oneself in various situations. These settings include social, intellectual, familial, and personal evaluative attitudes toward one self. This evaluation instrument will be purchased by the school that provides this counseling group.
High levels of dependability have been established, and a substantial quantity of data validates the construct essence of this measure. However, since self-esteem is a difficult concept to assess and several meanings of self-esteem exist. As a result, the primary goal of this tool will be to gather data before and after the assessment and give a rough estimate of personal self for group entrance reasons. In addition, the “Coopersmith Self-Esteem School Inventory Short Form manual” will be used to determine the slashed score for pupils categorized as having a low esteem level.
Confidentiality Dilemma
Confidentiality issues are linked to coping with disagreements in certain ways but a different manner. Participants should discuss the tension between clinging to one’s viewpoint while still recognizing the need of a team to respond to participants in the same manner. If you believe what the team has decided upon is incorrect, there is an implicit or explicit rule that everyone must follow, and then a loyalty problem seems unavoidable. As a result, stating that all team members should act in the same manner may avoid ethical issues. When dealing with problems of secrecy, coercion should be used.
Psychoeducational Group Formation
Forming and Transition
Clarifying the group’s purpose and goals, constructing basic rules, normalizing anxiety, discussing confidentiality and its limits, teaching and designing communication skills, making a safe environment, encouraging group norms of participation, and facilitating unity are all tasks that leaders perform the first sessions of psychoeducational groups. Members of the group may arrive with preconceived notions about the upcoming encounter. These expectations may have arisen due to the screening process, other members discussing their group experiences, or previous group participation. In any event, the group’s inaugural meetings should include discussing the members’ expectations for the group and the group process.
While psychoeducational group leaders perform comparable roles to counseling groups, leaders-psychoeducational group leaders should establish the norm of teaching and learning by adding didactic activities early on. For example, assume that certain group members are having difficulty blending spirituality into their own identities. Leaders could teach skills for self-reflection and proper self-disclosure and outward expression, which are vital in the group as well as with members’ peers and family members outside the group. Early in the group, leaders should focus on striking a balance between teaching new skills and processing group members’ feelings and reactions to group content. Leaders may overlook the group process since information is conveyed through teaching. During each session, leaders should include engaging group activities.
Members of a group that is still in its early stages tend to function in a honeymoon mode. In other words, members are more focused and eager to follow group rules and work toward common goals. Members may be more resistive and hesitant to participate and engage in productive work during the transition stage, especially if they have academic or behavioral issues. Leaders should assist members in understanding why they are reacting the way they are in a group, making connections between their resistances inside and outside the group, and the impact of resistance on member success, as well as assisting members in developing strategies to avoid undermining their success in group. Leaders must be patient and encouraging, focusing on group management rather than discipline, and emphasizing members’ strengths. Group leaders who encourage increasing self-disclosure will encourage group members to explore and learn more.
Middle Stage of Psychoeducational Groups: Working
During the working or middle stage of the psychoeducational group, activities (e.g., ice-breakers, energizers) are still necessary, but this is when the majority of the new material and skills are taught. Psychoeducational groups give members with information that can help them avoid problems in the future or cope with present ones. Group leaders should concentrate on instilling the skills and habits that members will need to achieve their goals. It’s critical to teach skills and behaviors in tiny, reasonable steps and to provide members with the opportunity to experience little victories so that they may use what they’ve learned outside of the group. As a result, group leaders must be deliberate in adding time for skill practice inside the group, homework to assist members in practicing their new behaviors and skills, and ways to track members’ performance in attempting these new behaviors and skills (e.g., keeping a journal, recording the number of times they tried a new behavior or skill). Homework should also include tiny, doable stages so that participants can feel successful while practicing new behaviors and skills outside of the group.
Members should find instruction and related activities fascinating and engaging, as well as developmentally appropriate. Effective teachers, and by extension, effective psychoeducational group leaders, discover ways to make the information being taught relevant to members’ lives, as well as to elicit and incorporate students’ life experiences into the classroom. They also assist each individual is feeling a sense of belonging to the group. This can be accomplished by employing a warm, empathic personal style that expresses the leader’s investment in and concern for each group member.
Ending Stage of Psycho-educational Group: Termination
Leaders focus on termination during the concluding stage group. Termination entails summarizing and wrapping up the group’s themes, addressing and handling unresolved issues, and assisting participants in discussing what they studied in the group, describing changes, and determining actions they will carry to keep working on their unique behaviors and skills after the team is completed. Leaders should assist members in processing their thoughts about leaving the organization and distancing themselves from one another, as well as developing a plan to continue working toward their objectives. Leaders may also need to provide support and follow-up for group participants who require additional assistance.
Connecting psychoeducational group members to outside support networks (e.g., mentors, reading buddies, and tutoring programs) is another proactive technique counselors can utilize to help them. Members of these support networks can engage in meaningful connections that help them grow personally, socially, and academically. Finally, when the group draws to a close, leaders must ensure that post-assessments are given for both outcome and process data, if needed.
Cultural Issues
Because people perform, group cultures cannot have a direct impact on performance. People must be influenced by cultures in some way in order for their individual or collective performance to be affected. To completely examine the effects of culture on groups, we must first figure out how culture affects persons and how those effects are linked to group performance. In an ideal world, research into the influence of group culture on performance would result in theories and evidence linking specific features of culture to specific characteristics of performance via intervening variables. Unfortunately, this agenda has just gotten off to a shaky start. To determine all of a culture’s repercussions for performance, we must investigate the routes by which cultures change people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors as thoroughly as possible.
Because cultures affects how people feel, behave and think, and helps to determine the settings in which they act, it has an impact on collective performance. Culture has an impact on people’s cognitions, affective states, and behaviors, all of which have ramifications for work performance. Individual behavior is also influenced by culture, which shapes the situations in which people work and the conditions in which organizations operate.
References
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