Group Therapy With Divorced Persons: Empirically Evaluating Social Work Practice

The routine evaluation of a social work intervention designed to assist separated and divorced persons in their adjustment to divorce is reported. Divorce adjustment was measured by administering pre- and postmeasures of the Fisher Divorce Adjustment Scale (FDAS) to 25 clients who participated in five 10-week divorce adjustment groups. The results indicated that all but 2 individuals gained in the overall adjustment score of the FDAS. There was considerable variation between individuals in the pattern and in the magnitude of improvement that was widespread across four of the five groups. Striengths and weaknesses of the design are discussed, as well as the applications of the findings for social work practice.