Components of group work
Assessment
- Collect information about participants’ background relevant to their tobacco dependence
(See CIF content)
- Inquire about group members’ expectations
- Determine members’ readiness to attend meetings and willingness to work in a group
Goal setting
- Identify where each person is (comfort in group setting, level of present commitment, readiness to quit, etc.) and what outcome they want to achieve or move toward
- Form subgroups of members at different stages, if approriate
- Establish realistic and measurable goals
Planning
- Develop plans for entire series of group sessions and for individual sessions
- Encourage members to take part in planning process
Implementation
- Conduct “ice breaker” activities during initial session(s) to acquaint members with one another and with you, and to establish a relaxed, open, safe atmosphere
- Come prepared with all the necessary materials (including CIF forms)
- Present overview of the structure of the sessions (including evaluation format)
- Establish ground rules
Example: One person talks at a time; participants act respectfully and receptively to one another; participants need to be on time and present for entire class sessions; silence cell phones & pagers, etc.
- Begin each new session with a reflection of the previous meeting(s); clarify any misunderstandings; get a pulse on where the group is (knowledge base, attitude, etc.)
- Evaluation and reformulation of the concepts and insights from the previous meeting(s)
- Formative evaluation provides information about the group process. It can be conducted formally (in writing) or informally (through discussion). With the information provided, the facilitator can assess the status of the group and reformulate, if necessary, the session content and teaching style. This type of evaluation should involve the collaboration of the group as much as possible.
(Adapted from Rinne & Toropainen, 1998)
What makes a good group facilitator?
- Personal characteristics
- Enthusiasm
- Self-confidence
- Ability to listen
- Ability to get along with others
- Knowledge of subject matter
- Organizational and planning capabilities, including arrangement of space and equipment
- Effective communication skills
- Radiant listening: Listen intently and be genuinely interested in other people’s thoughts and feelings; maintain eye contact with speaker.
- Model: Practice behavior you want reflected back to you (thoughtful, respectful behavior)
- Summarize: Use paraphrasing to clarify
- Focus attention and pacing: Keep the group on task; limit repetition, gently curb or redirect over-talkers or those otherwise creating a disturbing atmosphere.
- Recognize progress: Offer statements such as “Nice job,” “Good comment,” etc.
- Scan/Observe: Elicit full participation from the group; watch for non-verbal communication (body movement, facial expressions and gestures), so that you can detect and address disinterest, confusion, etc.
- Respect the power of silence: Give the group time to answer a question – don’t get anxious about silence. Wait at least ten seconds after asking a question to let group members formulate thought and step up. People can be bashful and hesitant, especially about personal feelings. Look for visual cues – you can many times tell by the look on a face or a shift of the body if that person has something to say.
Some Practical “Do”s and “Don’t”s
- Do – Project your voice to the back of the room. Ask if everyone can hear you. If you have a deep voice, pitching your voice slightly higher will make your voice carry farther.
- Do – If you are writing on a blackboard or whiteboard or on a flip chart/easel, be sure that your letters are at least 1 ½ inches high. Print rather than write.
- Don’t – Do not read verbatim from a document in your hand. It’s deadly. If you must read from something, look up at the room after every sentence or two. Keep your voice lively. If you don’t read aloud well, find another way to present the information.
- Do – If you want to read from material that the group members also have in front of them, get them to read it aloud to the group. Ask for volunteers.
- Do – Keep moving around the room. Make sure everyone can see you. Establish eye contact with your group members. It’s better to stay standing than to sit in front of the group.
- Don’t – Don’t fidget with objects (such as markers or pens) while you are talking in front of the group. It is very distracting to your listeners/watchers.
- Do – If possible, position yourself in the room so that you can see the time without having to look at your watch. The best case scenario is if there is a clock on the back wall of the room as you face it.
- Do – Use people’s names. Encourage the use of name tags (first names only), if appropriate. This will help you remember people’s names and will make people feel more comfortable with one another in break-out sessions.
Who is the Expert?
When working with groups that are focused on behavior change, a good appraoch to take is to regard the group member as the expert on his or her own behavior. In the group setting, you, as the group facilitator, can guess at underlying motivations and behaviors, but you really only know what the group member chooses to tell you about his or her life and lifestyle. Don’t assume anything about your group members’ lives and be respectful of the possibility that they may be under physical or psycho-social pressures that they will decline to disclose for any number of reasons (problems with family members, health issues or other stressors, such as domestic abuse, etc.). The member knows why he or she smokes and also knows what he or she has to do to stop; ask what the member think it will take to quit.
Your job as facilitator is to help your group member keep two things foremost in mind:
A. the importance to the member of quitting (and staying quit) and
B. the recognition and support of the member’s self-confidence in succeeding with this important health behavior change.
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