Technology-Based Groups: A Review and Conceptual Framework for Practice

Telephone conference call and computer-assisted groups offer the benefits of group treatment, education, and support to individuals who cannot or choose not to attend face-to-face groups. They also can expedite participation in organizational and community planning and decision making. These technology-based groups are still a novelty, however, and are rarely mentioned in texts on social work practice. Innovative practitioners who want to use technology to bring people together in groups must rely on conceptual frameworks that have been designed for groups whose members have face-to-face interactions. These frameworks often have limited applicability for work with telephone groups in which members may know each other only by their voices or for computer groups where members may only make contact through messages flashing on a screen. We address this conceptual gap in social work knowledge by presenting a framework for practice with telephone and computer groups. Our framework is grounded in existing models of social work with face-to-face groups and extends these conceptions to groups whose members are physically separated and connected only by technology. This framework draws on the experience and wisdom of human services practitioners and scholars and on theoretical explanations and research findings from social psychology. Practice with Telephone and Computer Groups Our conception of current practice with telephone and computer groups has evolved from our review of the professional and popular literature, our own experience, and a survey we conducted of group work practitioners (Galinsky, Schopler, & Abell, 1997; Schopler, Galinsky, & Abell, in press). The professional literature is predominantly descriptive and stresses the advantages related to using technology. Although some of the drawbacks are mentioned by professionals, the risks and challenges of technology are more likely to appear in the popular press. The growing literature on technology-based groups describes their use for a wide array of purposes and populations and identifies their potential benefits and challenges. Purposes and Populations Technology-based groups often are used to overcome barriers such as stigma, physical and emotional conditions, distance, lack of transportation, and conflicting responsibilities that may discourage attendance at face-to-face groups. With telephone conference call and computer technology, practitioners are reaching out to individuals in their homes or offices. During regularly scheduled meetings, members provide support, information, and practical or emotional help to each other or make decisions and complete tasks over the telephone. In computer groups, members share feelings, exchange information, develop skills, solve problems, work on tasks, and make decisions through messages they post simultaneously or asynchronously, at their convenience, at any time of the day or night. Membership in technology-based groups may be as few as three people for either type, but hundreds of people conceivably may participate in a computer group. Since the late 1970s, practitioners have used telephone groups to assist such diverse populations as blind elderly clients (Evans & Jaureguy, 1982b; Evans, Werkhoven, & Fox, 1982; Thomas & Urbano, 1993), adults with physical disabilities (Evans, Fox, Pritzl, & Halar, 1984; Evans, Halar, & Smith, 1985; Evans, Smith, Werkhoven, Fox, & Pritzl, 1986; Kennard & Shilman, 1979), people with HIV disease (Meier, Galinsky, & Rounds, 1995; Rittner & Hammons, 1992; Roffman, Beadnell, Ryan, & Downey, 1995; Rounds, Galinsky, & Despard, 1995; Rounds, Galinsky, & Stevens, 1991; Wiener, Spencer, Davidson, & Fair, 1993), cancer patients (Colon, 1995), and homebound individuals with multiple sclerosis (Stein, Rothman, & Nakanishi, 1993). More recently, social workers have shown that computer technology provides a feasible and productive way to work with groups such as caregivers of people with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia (Brennan, Moore, & Smyth, 1992; Smyth & Harris, 1993), survivors of sexual abuse (Finn, 1995; Finn & Lavitt, 1994), cancer patients (Weinberg, Schmale, Uken, & Wessel, 1995, 1996), chronically ill children and youths (Ell & Reardon, 1990; Levenson & Signer, 1985), and emotionally disturbed adolescents (Zimmerman, 1987). …