Explain the Concept and Definition of Group Work.

Concept and definition of group work:

The definition of social group work is as follows According to Murphy, “Social group work is a method of social work that helps persons to enhance their social functioning through purposeful group experiences and to scope more effectively with their personal, group and community problems”.

According to Trecker, “Group work is a method through which individuals in groups in social agency settings are helped by a worker who guides their interactions in programme activities so that they may relate themselves to others and experiences growth opportunities in accordance with their needs and capacities to the end of individual, group and community development”.

Social work with groups represents a broad domain of direct social work practice . Social workers work with a variety of groups in all settings in which social work is practiced. While some have proposed that social work practice with groups reflects any and all groups within which social workers participate, other definitional parameters have been established.

Middleman and Wood (1990) have proposed that for practice to qualify as social work with groups four conditions must be met, the worker should focus attention on helping the group members become a system of mutual aid, the group worker must understand the role of the group process itself as the primary force responsible for individual and collective change the group worker seeks to enhance group autonomy, the group worker helps the group members experience their groupness upon termination.

Middleman and Wood(1990) observe that social group work meets their criteria of social work with groups. They also point out that “given our definition of work with groups, therapy can be the content and can be included also, contingent upon the way in which the group as a whole and groupness are used” in accord with the identified criteria. As long as the criteria is met, structured group work “where the worker is the expert until her knowledge has been imparted to the group” could be regarded as social Work with groups as well.