Alcoholics Anonymous Group Behavior Questions

1. Participation Patterns and Make-up of Group (5 Points) a) What is the makeup of group? (i. e. genders, age ranges of people present, ethnicity, races, smokers and/or non-smokers present, number of individuals attending, etc.) 1. The Majority of the members are male. There was a total attendance of 14 members. There were 2 females in the group and 2 other females who were accompanying their spouses as listeners. The majority of the group was Caucasian and there were also 3 Hispanic males and 1 Hispanic female. It seemed like almost everyone in the group was smoking throughout the meeting. b) Who does the talking in the group? (I.e. is it mostly the group leader; one particular group member; or other members?) 2. The group leader will initiate the meeting by reading about the group meeting and then will open the floor for anyone who would like to share about their day/week. In this session everyone who was a member spoke for a few minutes about their problems with alcohol. Only one group member declined to share. c) To whom do the group questions go to: the leader, the group itself, or individual members? 3. The questions were directed at the group and everyone gives their input or advice. d) Do group members who don’t talk much or participate, seem to be interested or not? If not, what do they do instead? 4. The one member who chose not to participate or share only introduced himself by saying his name and that he was an alcoholic but said he did not feel like sharing. He was paying attention throughout the meeting but just did not want to share his story. 2. Communication (6 Points) a) How clear are the group members in communicating their ideas, values, and/or feelings? Do they appear to understand what others are saying? 1. The members of this group appear to have been coming together for a while now because they seemed to really get along and showed genuine interest when someone was talking. They listened to issues that fellow members were going through and then if they had some advice they would offer it. b) Do members feel free to ask for clarification if they don’t understand something? 2. It seems like the members were all quite comfortable amongst each other and if they had something to ask or share they did so freely. c) What non-verbal communication is used? (I.e. hand gestures, head nodding, smiling, etc.) 3. A couple of the people in attendance would not or say, “mm-hmm” in agreeance with something that someone was saying or as a way to indicate that they understood what the person sharing was experiencing. d) Does any of the group members’ body language seem to indicate any underlying emotions such as tension/relaxation, anxiety/comfortable, happiness, fear, discomfort or any other particular emotion? 4. I did not get the feeling that anyone there was fearful or tense. I did notice that the majority of the members were constantly smoking one cigarette after another and the one member who refused to share was constantly tapping his feet and kept holding his arms together as if it were cold in the room. e) When group members express their ideas, do other group members seem to understand and agree with the ideas? Or do they seem to not agree/understand? 5. For the most part the members seemed to agree with the ideas presented. They showed that they agreed by nodding their heads. There was not any occasion in which members showed disagreeance throughout the meeting. f) Are there any attempts by any group members to disrespect/disrupt the group? i. If so, how do the group leader and/or group members handle this issue of attempted group disruption? a. There were no attempts by any of the group members to be disrespectful. They each took their turns speaking and once whoever was sharing was done the other members thanked him for sharing and if anyone had anything to add then they would introduce themselves again and share whatever they felt relevant. 3. Cohesion and Atmosphere (5 points) a) Does it (the group) seem to function as a cohesive unit? i. If so, what is the evidence of its functioning as a cohesive group? (I.e. group members calling it “my group” or “our group”) a. It seems like this group is really cohesive. I say this because they members did in fact refer to it as “our group” and they were all very respectful of one another. 2 members even compared this group to other groups that they had been to and mentioned how much more they liked this group in comparison to the others. ii. If not, what is the lack of evidence of group cohesion? (I.e. group members calling it instead, “his group” or “your group.”) b. N/A b) Does the group and its members seem open (or not) to new members and/or visitors? (i.e. is group and its members warm/welcoming vs. cold/hostile) 1. The members were very open to me as a visitor and to the other 2 females who were there accompanying members. They asked me to introduce myself and they seemed happy to be able to share their success stories about how much better their life has become since they have become sober. c) Do the leader and/or group members seem to promote a group atmosphere that is: i. Formal (i.e. specific agenda, rules, identified leaders) ii. Informal (i.e. no specific agenda, rules, leader) iii. A mixture of the two? a. The group had a mixture of the formal and informal. The group started right on time (8:00pm) and the group leader led by reading the usual reading. The informal part was that the members did not have a specific topic to speak about. It was an open forum and the members could talk about how much better a sober life is, what led them to AA, any issues that they are facing trying to stay sober, family problems etc. d) Can group members’ negative or different points of view be expressed without fear of punishment or other consequences? 2. There were no negative points of view. However, it seems like the group is open to any type of input (negative or positive). 4. Group Support (5 points) a) Do group members tend to identify with and support one another? i. If so, how is this support shown? a. The group has a whiteboard with lists of names and phone numbers of sponsors that group members can reach out to for support. They listen to each other’s stories and seem genuinely interested in what other members are going through. ii. If not so, how was this lack of support shown? b. N/A b) Is there any evidence of how the group chooses to give rewards to its group members? (I.e. tokens, gifts, pictures, key chains, etc.) 1. There was one member who received a blue token. This was the member’s 6th month sober and that was his reward. c) Do these rewards seem to be positive or negative influences on the group and/or its members? 2. By the way other members reacted it seemed like this small reward was something positive. I say this because the recipient seemed very happy and proud of receiving this token for his efforts. The other members all clapped and cheered for him congratulating him on his sobriety. d) List and define at least 5 of Yalom’s group curative factors. DO NOT FORGET SOURCE CITATION!! 3. Instillation of Hope: Faith that the treatment mode can and will be effective. 4. Universality - demonstration that we are not alone in our misery or our "problems". 5. Altruism - opportunity to rise out of oneself and help somebody else; the feeling of usefulness. 6. Direct Advice - receiving and giving suggestions for strategies for handling problems. 7. Interpersonal learning - receiving feedback from others and experimenting with new ways of relating. 5. Group Styles, Phases, and Roles: (8 points) a) Define the group terms: autocratic, democratic, and laissez-faire 1. Autocratic: one person is in complete control of all the decisions. 2. Democratic: members of a group participate in the decision making process. 3. Laissez- Faire: leaders are hands-off and allow members to make all decisions. b) Which of the above terms would you use to describe the AA group you attended? 4. I think that the group I went to was a democratic group. The leader was involved but ultimately the group also had a say in the direction the meeting went. c) Define at least 5 group role terms: i. e. dominator, seducer, etc. 5. Information seeker: asks for clarification of suggestions made in terms of their factual adequacy, for authoritative information and facts pertinent to the problem being discussed. 6. Information giver: offers facts or generalizations which are “authoritative” or relate his/her own experience pertinent to the group problem. 7. Encourager: praises, agrees with, and accepts the contribution of the others. S/he indicates warmth and solidarity in her/his attitude toward other group members, offers commendation and praise and in various ways indicates understanding and acceptance of other points of view, ideas, and suggestions. 8. Aggressor: may work in many ways - deflating the status of others, expressing disapproval of the values, acts, or feelings of others, attacking the group or the problem it is working on, joking aggressively, showing envy toward another's contribution by trying to take credit for it, etc. 9. Recognition seeker: works in various ways to call attention to her/him, whether through boasting, reporting on personal achievements, acting in unusual ways, struggling to prevent being placed in an "inferior" position, etc. d) List and discuss the phases of the group process: 10. Beginning: commences as soon as the group begins to meet. Members introduce themselves and the leader discusses rules and expectations. 11. Working: Members begin to focus their attention on purpose or task the group is trying to accomplish. Members express opinions. 12. Termination: Occurs before the group disbands. Work of the group is reviewed and focus is on group accomplishments or growth of group members. e) Which phase was your AA meeting in? 13. My group went through all these stages. 6. Your AA/NA experiences- Discuss in-detail: (6 Points) a) Whether or not you would recommend AA &/or NA to someone with a chemical dependency problem. If yes, why? If no, why not? 1. I would recommend AA to anyone with an alcohol problem. I like the fact that they all seemed very supportive of one another. Nobody seemed judgmental. b) What were the positive things that you liked best about your experience? 2. I liked the fact that everyone was very welcoming to me as a visitor. Although they knew that I was not there because of an alcohol problem, they still shared with me their stories and even encouraged me to continue with my abstinence from alcohol. c) What would you change if you were the leader and in charge of the group that you attended? 3. If at all possible I would change the smoking. It seemed like there was smoke coming from all sides of the room. I know that there are some meetings that are for non-smokers but the one I went to allowed smoking. 7. APA Format (5 Points) 8. Reference citation (5 points)

References:

Gilman, R. (2000). Roles in groups- the many forms of leadership and participation. In Context, IC(9), 2-24. Retrieved from http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC09/FCL.htm

Practice guidelines for group psychotherapy- therapeutic factors and therapeutic mechanisms. (2007). Retrieved from http://www.agpa.org/guidelines/factorsandmechanisms

Videbeck, S. L. (2010). Psychiatric-mental health nursing. (5 ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.