Mastering group leadership. An active learning experience.

Abstract

Leading therapeutic groups is an underused but viable treatment role for nurses in all specialty areas. A dynamic psychoeducational group model provides structure as nurses invest and collaboratively participate to actively learn the group leader role. this article highlights the sequencing of instruction of group theory and skills with examples from a baccalaureate nursing curriculum. Samples from student journals reveal their growing assimilation of the group leader role as learners actively participated in groups, collaborated, and reflected on their learning. Examples of creatively adapted group exercises, as well as selected nursing group leader interventions, demonstrate group leadership as a skill that can increase nurses' repertoire of therapeutic responses. Therapeutic groups are both exciting and cost-effective treatment strategies for use with mentally ill clients. The skills of an accomplished group leader are transferable from within the psychiatric population to working with families, bereavement groups, and other client populations, ranging from people with diabetes to survivors of catastrophic crises. Group leadership ability complements the management and negotiation skills needed in professional nursing roles. When students and staff nurses grow in group leadership expertise, clients in various settings will be better served with this currently underused treatment option.