According to Toseland and Rivas (2012), there are five core values in group work, which are participation of and positive relations among people of different color, age, nationality, ethnic, social class in the group, participatory democracy, individual initiative, freedom of participation and individualization.
Social worker needs to respect to the diversity of religions and customs of group members. For example, social worker cannot force a group member to do something that he or she does not want to do because of his or her religious belief. Also, when conflict between group members appears, social worker needs to address it without hurting each party’s feelings. Social worker needs to pay attention …show more content…
Evaluating behavior therapy in groups
Behavior therapy, as an evidence-based approach, is proved to be useful in many problems. However, there are still many criticisms towards it. People argued that in real group settings, group leaders may pay little attention on listening to members’ feelings of the treatment plan, which is in conflict with some basic social work values, including respect, unconditional positive regards and genuineness.
Moreover, by using this approach, members are not encouraged to experience their emotions, as the worker only focuses on behavior training and relaxation, which may cause difficulties in solving emotional problems which come along with the behavioral problem.
Also, in some cases, the problem of members may rooted in past experiences, but by using this therapy, social worker ignore this possibility which may be harmful to problem …show more content…
6. Conclusion
This essay provides a rough description of behavior therapy in different kinds of group settings. Rather than showing how to apply the theory into different stage and session of group, the focus is on the ethical issues which may occur in the process of group and what should group leader do to keep in accordance to social work ethics and values.
Although it is convenient and effective to use this therapy, it is argued that it place too less attention on insight of client’s emotion and past relevant experiences, and by using this therapy, social worker tends to pay less attention on listening to clients, and also, it is too therapist-centered. However, as long as social worker carefully pay more attention on listening and discuss with client about past experiences more, those shortcoming can be avoided. For the disadvantage of being to therapist-centered, social worker may introduce more self-direction and self-control skills to the