Learning Group Process Skills

Abstract

A response to "Video: A teaching strategy for learning group process," by Beverly Anderson and Nina Hrycak The authors of the article, Video: A teaching strategy for learning group process, are to be congratulated for their interest in teaching group process content, and for their willingness to experiment with a teaching strategy that incorporates videotape feedback. Too often practice in the theory and skills of group process is given minimal attention in both undergraduate and graduate nursing curricula. Yet, as faculty we frequently claim that we prepare students to "function collaboratively with colleagues" and to "engage in mutual problem solving with patients and families." Such learning outcomes require teaching strategies that deal with the content of group process in ways that help students transfer the theory and skills to the realm of professional nursing practice. The use of video, as the authors point out, and as I have discovered myself, provides students with means for the assessment of both individual and group behaviour. Further, videotape feedback, considered objective feedback, can initiate the vital process of self-examination that is the forerunner to behaviour change. Some comments and questions about the study relate to the method and conclusions reported by the authors. Considering method first, it is important, for the reader as well as for investigators interested in replicating the study, to know the extent and nature of the "in-class instruction on group process" (p.7). For example, did this consist of one session in which instructions for the project were delivered? Or, did the session or sessions involve instruction or practice, or both, in identifying the group functions outlined in Figure 1? The extent to which students understood the specific functions and were able to identify them accurately has direct bearing on the results.