THE USE OF SOCIAL GROUP WORK AS A THERAPEUTIC FACTOR IN THE HOSPITAL SETTING

This article discusses the use of social group work as a therapeutic factor in the hospital setting of the Norton Psychiatric Clinic, Norton Memorial Infirmary, Louisville, Kentucky. The emotionally ill person demonstrates his illness most clearly in interpersonal relationships and in the way he functions or fails to function in group living. The degree to which the person has recovered and the process of recovery are illustrated in the same way. A logical consequence of these facts is the deliberate enhancement of group living as an aid to treatment in the hospital setting. In order to accomplish this, the staff of the Clinic includes a social group worker. The function of stimulating the development of group life and helping the patients to make use of it is shared by all staff members, but it is the primary responsibility of the social group worker. In order to perform this function, the social group worker is active in all the coordinative and educational activities of the staff. The physical plant of the clinic was designed to encourage group living. Each of the three wards has a central lounge, and connected with one of these is a central dining room in which patients are encouraged to have their meals all together. The patient load of the clinic averages between 18 and 26 patients and the average patient stay in hospital is about 30 days. The focus of the program is on development of the patients’ relationships, that is, identification with the group, enjoyment and appreciation and support of one another, reality working out of relationships and situationsin a word, community life in miniature and in concentrated form. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)