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Index: L1 / School Social Work / Children and Young People / Group / Evaluative Study / 70149124

Keywords: Group Work/ Adolescent clients / task-centered group work approach / group evaluation

Evaluative Study

Abstract: This is the group evaluation report submitted by a first placement student. The student is place in a secondary school setting under the Link Project arrangement between the university and the secondary school. (In the Link Project, the student is placed directly with the school rather through a social work agency working within the school.)  

Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Intervention of the Selected Assignment

Introduction

        The group "counselling activities" was held for nine Form 1 students with relatively poorer English Language performance.  The group integrated various theories into practice, including task-centered group work approach, group theory, social leaning theory, etc.  This report aims at evaluating the effectiveness of the intervention, the changes of the members and an analysis of the outcome.

Objective of the evaluation

• To evaluate whether there are any improvement in student's English Language performance. 
• To test whether there are improvement in the students' peer support network.
• To evaluate whether there are increased in students' confidence in asking questions and successful experiences through their participation in the group. 
• To see whether the big sisters are useful in helping the students. 
• To evaluate whether there is any gain by big sisters through helping others.

Evaluation Format

(1)   By member's dictation or test results:

        Through comparing each individual member's academic results on dictations or tests of English Language just before and throughout the group, so as to evaluate the effectiveness of the group intervention.

(2)   By member's feedback:

        Collect feedback from members' through a questionnaire.

(3)   By parents' feedback and "teachers--- star counsellors" feedback:

        Collect information and the use of a questionnaire for the star counsellors.

(4)   By worker's observation:

        A record of each session enables the worker to (1) describe the group process; (2) provide data for more detailed evaluation; (3) analyse the specific areas so as to understand the group dynamic; and (4) note the significance areas for future planning work.

(1) By member's test and dictation results:

Member's test results throughout the group:

         From the above Table, the increase in their test results is rather significant for some members.  The increase in percentage of marks is greatest in G, up to 50 % increased.  In the questionnaire filled by G, she indicated "agree" on the question that "現在我願意為學習付出更多努力。" Also, she filled "agree" on question "我覺得大姐姐能夠幫助我解決功課疑難。" and "completely disagree" on "於詢問姐姐的過程中, 我不能學習到問題的解決方法。". The big sister had commented that G had been more active in asking questions and was keened to find solutions to the problems.  By worker's observation, G finished the task for each session given by worker or decided by them.  The tasks are mainly concentrated in enhancing their English Language ability, such as writing English letters, worksheets, etc. She is more willing to put effort in studying when she sees her improvement in the group.  Having said that, there may be other variables that existed, such as the test being easier, etc. that may have influenced the test results.

         E, H, P also got quite significance improvement in their test results. E, P filled "agree" on "我覺得大姐姐能夠幫助我解決功課疑難。" P accomplished the tasks every time and made a good progress in dictation results. She got 3 full marks in the most recent dictations.  P had set an individual contract with worker on reading. She accomplished the contract of reading 3 storybooks per month.  It is believed that the tasks and reading contract have contributed to P's improvement in the English Language.      

(Comments: In evaluating one's intervention, it will be illuminating about the nature of social work intervention to look at the cases that do not do as well, at least 'not do well' according to the evaluation criteria set by the worker. This can often enlighten one's reflection on the effectiveness of intervention and help one to seek out alternative ways of working with different individuals.)

Member's (Group 1) dictation results throughout the group:

Member's (Group 2) dictation results throughout the group:

Member's (Group 3) dictation results throughout the group:

Member's (Group 4) dictation results throughout the group:

         The dictation results fluctuated a fair bit for some members such as D and E. It might be due to a lot of reasons such as the nature of the dictations (unseen or not), whether there are many homework during the days of dictation, etc.

 (2) By member's feedback---questionnaires.

         There was a questionnaire for each member to fill in after the group had finished.  The questionnaire contains 33 questions that mainly focus on improvement in interpersonal skill or peer support, self-development in various aspects, learning and the effectiveness of mobilising school resources in the helping process.  Some of the questions are chosen for discussion below.

1: 毫不同意 2: 不同意 3: 部份不同意 4: 部份同意 5: 同意 6: 完全同意

On peer support and interpersonal skill aspect, five questions were asked.

         A group is a place for members to meet friends.  Peers are very important to adolescents. Through the groups, they can learn from each other. The "counseling activities" group is also a place for students to know more friends and to enlarge their social circles. Nearly 80 % of the participants showed that they had known more friends through the group.

        As the group has integrated the task-centred group work approach, the elements of the buddy system, task setting, etc. have enhanced the relationships amongst the members. There were 2 members to 3 members in a buddy group.  Many games were played to help the buddy group get together, cooperate with each other and learn decision-making skills.  Thus, it is believed that the relationship amongst the students within the buddy group is rather closed.  Nearly 90% of the participants identified that they had build up a mutual help and support relationship with at least one member. It might indicate that the buddy system had been effective in helping the members to build up mutual support relationship with each other.

         On self-development, confidence in actively asking questions, confidence in their potential to help others, assertiveness, the successful experiences/identity built from task achievement, willingness to put in effort in their academic work.

         In the aspect of gaining confidence in asking questions after the group, nearly 80 % of the participants indicated that they would be more active to ask their partners/others when they encountered academic difficulties.  It might be because in the group, there were big sisters available for them to get help from when they met with difficulties. Thus, they become more confidence in raising out their difficulties, especially to their partner. As reported by the big sisters on the following questions, "從指導功課的過程中, 我發現同學普遍較之前主動詢問功課。", over 66% of big sisters agreed on that point.  It showed that the students are generally more willing to put up their hands and seek for help.   

         The confidence in own capacity in helping others in the group is not so significantly shown.  It might be due to the fact that in the group, though some buddy would help each other in their homework, however, the helping role is mainly perform by the big sisters. Thus, there is not very much opportunities for them to show their capacity.

         Concerning assertiveness, it is observed that some members had shown improvement in voicing out their opinions within the group.  The question, "在小組之前, 在班內我從不敢表達自己的不同意見。", over 70 % of the participants agreed on that point.  Over 90 % of the participants agreed on the question, "透過小組, 我現在較有勇氣表達自己的不同意見。" In fact, over 80 % of the big sister's observation had indicated that the students were more willing and active in front of the group.  The members, especially those passive members, were always encouraged to share in the discussion at the end of the group sessions. It is believed that there are certain improvements for the members to speak out their view.

        As stated in the group proposal, one of the objectives of the group was to let the students experience success and achievement from task accomplishment and positive feedback.  In that way, the students might be able to gain their confidence in studying.  There are over 90 % of the members who said that they could achieve in this area. Over 70 % of the students said that they received satisfaction from the accomplishment of tasks.  With regards to the objectives of helping students build up better habits of completing tasks before the group, enhancing their English Language ability and experiencing achievement from task accomplishment, the results in the questionnaire showed that most students can feel the success and achievement form the task.

In learning aspect, the buddy system was assessed.

In the aspect of mobilising school resources (star counsellors) in the helping process, two questions were asked.

 (3) By “star counsellors’ feedback”---questionnaire.

         There is a questionnaire for every “star counsellors” to fill in. The questions asked were mainly in the ares of their observation of the students during the time they were trying to solve their academic difficulties, as well as a focus on their personal development. The latter is to find out if they have gained confidence in their ability to help others and if they have increased in their commitment towards the post.  The star counsellors had also given some verbal comments on the participation and performance of some individual members.

The observations of students.

The development in star counsellors themselves, including the gaining of more confidence and commitment.

         It is a commitment to attend "counseling activities" for those big sisters. They need to put in their time in helping students in their academic work. Also, they need to put in effort to set or search for some worksheets for the students.  Through the participation of warm up games and activities, they have to be the helpers too.  Confidence is gained through the ability to accomplish all those above.  Over 80 % of the big sisters identified that they had increased their confidence through the helping process.  The group is not only designed for the students, but also for the big sisters to gain more confidence and commitment. It is a kind of personal development for them too.

(4) By worker's natural observation.

         Though the improvement on the dictations or test results are not very significant, however, through the observation, it is clear that there are some changes for some members.  For example, P used to be very passive and shy at the beginning of the group. However, she was able to give comments and suggestions during the last few group sessions.  She had also pointed out in the last session that she realized she had become more assertive and was able to speak up in the group. 

        C and E were very resistant towards the workers at the beginning of the group. C was also reluctant to hand in the tasks assigned.  However, after letting them to choose the task themselves and to have the autonomy to make decision, C and E, both able and willing to hand in the tasks. E had even handed in the previous tasks. They were also being more responsible than before, for instance, they volunteered to clean up after the group's tea party

        F is a girl whom I observed to have changed a lot too.  She was a hard working girl, but very shy.  She seldom spoke to others in the group.  However, it is found that she was getting more and more talkative before others.  She was more active in asking questions and helping others. She performed the helper role in the group as well.   

(Comments: The placement student has presented some of the findings from the questionnaires filled out by the group members and the star counselors. She has also briefly commented on her own observation of the group. She can further strengthen this evaluative study by offering her comment on these findings in the context of her experience and observation of the group. This can be done by a more active integration of her interpretation and evaluative comments on the different areas being discussed. In evaluating a piece of social work intervention, evaluating the process that the group has gone through is important if not more so then solely discussing the outcome of the group through the means of questionnaires. This is especially so given the crude measuring instruments in use and the short-term nature of the group. It will be helpful to ask, why certain things happened the way they did? What could be the factors involved? How does the outcome challenge the pre-existing notions/assumptions on areas such as group dynamics, members' participation, clients' change, worker's roles, etc.? How does this group experience help to rethink or re-position oneself in the context of working with adolescent clients in a group?)

Suggestions For the Group / Evaluation

• As the members are recruited by referral from teachers, their motivation to attend the group and engaged in group tasks is relatively lower.  It is believed that if the members attend the class on a voluntary basis, their motivation to improve themselves would be greater. (Comments: However, this is the practice situation one is faced with. Often, social workers do not choose the ideal situation to practice. Sometimes, we work with voluntary clients, while at other times, involuntary clients. Clients also change over time and do not stay fix in any particular mental or psychological state. Different target groups have different features and the challenge for social workers is to increase one's own capacity to work with a wide range of clients. The counseling activity group aims to work with those students who are weak in their English Language and who may or may not be motivated to make any improvement on their study. Given such a context, the placement student has to learn to work with clients who are likely to start at different points in terms of their readiness to participate, their motivation towards their study, etc. In evaluating the group, it will be more helpful to discuss the experience of working with involuntary clients – what works and what does not – in helping them to overcome their inertia.)
• Pre test is not done in this evaluation.  In fact, it is better if pre test could have been done, as it will be able to see the changes more objectively.  Only doing questionnaire after the group may have some bias, such as the members might have already develop a good relationship with worker. Thus, they may be unwilling to write honestly about how they feel in the questionnaire.

Conclusion

         There are a lot of variables that might lead to the changes in students.  However, it is believed that the intervention of “counseling activities” group would have some influences on various aspect of the students, including their peer system, studying habit, being more active or assertive. 

Written and revised by: 70149124 (Student)

Instructor: T Y Lee

Copy Edited by: Phyllis Chee

Commented by: Phyllis Chee

Copyright 2001 by the City University of Hong Kong. All rights reserved.

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