Social Work With Multi-Family Groups

Here is a remarkable new volume for understanding the interrelatedness of the primary family group and the formed therapeutic group. Multiple family therapy is a special type of group practice that involves the members of several families meeting together with a professional to work on common family concerns. Rosemary Cassano, acclaimed for her qualitative research on multiple family group therapy, has produced an exciting volume that reflects the diversity of client populations and patterns and processes in these groups. Social Work With Multi-Family Groups reveals to the professional what actually goes on in the process of group interactions and practitioner interventions. In this state-of-the-art volume, social workers set forth a specific and careful definition of multiple family practice and examine the successful use of multi-family groups with families with child-labeled problems, institutionalized elderly suffering from physical and cognitive impairments and their family members, patients with life-threatening illness and their families, and several other support groups. Each of the practical examples illustrates how professionals can design helping systems for their clients that combine both professional and peer help and activate the help that is embedded in each client's own family.

D. Rosemary Cassano

Contents Preface - Introduction - Multi-Family Group Therapy in Social Work Practice--Part I - The Multi-Family Therapy Group: Research on Patterns of Interaction--Part II - The 10th Floor Family Support Group: A Descriptive Model of the Use of a Multi-Family Group in a Home for the Aged - A Support Group for Patients and Families Facing Life-Threatening Illness: Finding a Solution to Non-Being - Groupwork With Parents of Unwed Pregnant Teens: Transition to Unexpected Grandparenthood - Treating Children of Violent Families: A Sibling Group Approach