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Awe is an emotion frequently experienced in religious contexts. Research has documented the effects of awe on feelings of small self, spirituality, and sense of interconnectedness. We extend this l...

The normative cohesiveness idea in education, which constitutes a norm in thinking and practice that is inherently shared across the stakeholders, was adopted in order to understand and reflect on ...

Humour appears to be an important aspect of health-promoting efforts for some men. A better understanding of the role humour plays in men’s health contexts may provide insight into the optimal design of health interventions for men. In this study, we explored the role banter, humour that blurs the line between playfulness and aggression, plays for men in a men’s weight loss context. We applied dialogical narrative analysis to thirty interviews conducted with men involved in a men’s weight-loss program that leverages competition to drive weight loss. Banter served several functions for men in the program, including allowing them to determine their social position during early group formation, feel good, develop camaraderie, experience respite, provide male inter-personal support in a counter-intuitive way, and ‘be themselves’. Men could use banter as a tool to develop resilience for themselves, but could also adapt their approach to use banter as a means of providing support for others. Banter could also cause trouble, through conflict and misunderstandings, primarily understood through a lens of narratives of progressiveness, inclusiveness, and a ‘changing culture’. Banter could do harm, by positioning oneself against certain characteristics, and as a tool to get under people’s skin. However, an approach-orientation to one’s problems may allow misunderstandings that arise due to banter to lead to enhanced group cohesion. Intervention developers ought to explicitly address the potential for banter (and humour more broadly) to have positive and negative effects in men’s health contexts.

This study employs qualitative thematic analysis to examine the functions of posts within a naturally occurring, hidden private Facebook group for single mothers living in the same geographic area....

Current research has established that inclusive schooling alone cannot ensure the social participation of all children – a central goal of inclusive education. Therefore, this study examines whethe...

Over recent years, the field of sport for development (SFD) has seen a substantial growth in the number of initiatives leveraging sport as a means of promoting social development outcomes. Despite ...

Objectives: Short-stay residents of nursing homes experience high rates of mental health (MH) distress compared to community dwelling counterparts, yet MH interventions are difficult to implement and sustain. We modified a music therapy framework to Effective Music in Psychotherapy. Using the modified model, we integrated music listening into MH group intervention and evaluated MH outcomes. This pilot study reports the development and evaluation of the Mental Health and Music Group for short-stay nursing homes residents.Method: The group was developed and refined to be non-sequential and non-cumulative, specific to the needs of short-stay nursing home residents. Pre-/post-session ratings examined affect, quality of life, and pain. Leaders monitored engagement across and between sessions. Qualitative interviews were conducted with a selection of attendees.Results: Findings indicated decreases in irritation and worry, and increases in mood, energy, and self-as-a-whole from pre- to post-session. There were no changes in pain, perception of physical health or life-as-a-whole, energetic, sad, or happy affect, or differences in engagement. Qualitative interviews demonstrated benefits of group modality and music to group cohesion and highlighted the relevance of music for mental health outcomes.Conclusion: The Mental Health and Music group was designed around a framework of Effective Music in Psychotherapy, for short-stay nursing home settings, and demonstrated promising results. Future research can solidify the interventions generalizeability to medical and rehabilitation settings addressing the specific population needs and preferences.Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/13607863.2021.1935463 .

While often pursued as a desirable state for a society or community, group cohesion can be a double-edged sword. When it comes to Community-Driven Development (CDD), in which community members are ...

Notwithstanding the prominence of the so-called Standard Model of Military Group Cohesion (SMMGC), important parts of the model are understudied: both conceptually and empirically. In this article we, first, synthesize previous research to conceptualize and measure the overlooked institutional cohesion dimension. Second, we test the validity of the proposed full four-dimensional SMMGC model using a survey of an Italian Alpini battalion, and more rigorous methods than in previous research. Results are supportive of our proposed measurements and the validity of the four-dimensional model. We thus make a methodological and an empirical contribution to further the ongoing debate on military cohesion.

Appropriate use of cohesive devices is an important writing skill. Recently, there has been growing research on cohesiveness in ESL students’ texts at university level. However, research into secon...

Foreign fighters can be both an asset and a liability for the groups to which they are recruited. While they can bring with them much sought after skills and resources, they can also create tension...

This paper explores the gaps between two geographic rationales in region-building: territorially defined, bounded sub-units of the state and relationally defined spatial backdrops to functional and...

This study examined relational group psychotherapy processes, including group cohesion, bond with group leaders, perceptions of shame, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology for se...

Gender specific substance use disorder treatment has demonstrated promise in adult women, but is relatively unexplored in young adults. To address the specific needs of young adult females, the manual-based Women’s Recovery Group (WRG) was adapted for women ages 18–25. Treatment engagement and retention, group cohesiveness, satisfaction, and substance use outcomes were measured during group treatment and at 1-month follow up. This pilot supports the feasibility and initial acceptability of the adapted form of the WRG for young adults. Data from this study may inform future gender specific treatment approaches for substance use disorders in younger populations.

Background Experiential vertical integration of basic science with clinical concepts remains a challenge in medical school curricula. In addition, training physicians in nutritional competency that translates into patient care is a challenging endeavor ranging from biochemical mechanisms to socioeconomic challenges. Methods Employing a social constructivism paradigm, we implemented a collaborative cook-off competition in a basic science course where 140 first-year medical students per year translated their studies of inborn errors of metabolism, energy metabolism, micronutrients and immunology into edible creations intended for people with disorders requiring dietary management. After learning about the disorders in lecture, problem-based learning, team-based learning and through patient interviews, four problem-based learning groups (7 students per group) were assigned to prepare food dishes for one of the five assigned disorders. Together, students researched the dietary requirements, shopped, paid for, prepared, presented and shared their food. To the class, faculty and re-invited patients, the groups explained the dietary restrictions, the chosen ingredients, how they prepared the food, and why their dish was suitable for the disorder. Each category was judged and awarded a first-place food prize with a grand prize at the end. At the completion of the course, student feedback was elicited via anonymous evaluations. Over 3 years, 380 comments were collected. We used grounded theory to generate a codebook that was then analyzed by the authors for overarching themes. Results Qualitative results described three major themes: increased relevance of basic science to real life, increased empathy towards complying with dietary restrictions, and increased student group cohesiveness. Conclusion The patient-centered cook-off competition taught students the relevance of basic science but in addition, it taught empathy towards the patient experience. We also discovered that the process of food preparation was a bonding experience that promoted collaboration, cohesiveness and friendship within the student class.

Many academics have expressed reservations about the cohesiveness and comprehensiveness of performance information produced by governments. It is not known whether the current mechanisms used can p...

Poor adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) has significant consequences for adolescents. Conditional economic incentives (CEI) is an approach that may help address this challenge. This study evaluated the safety and preliminary efficacy of a group-based CEI program for ART adherence improvement among a sample of adolescents living in Ghana. A total of 35 adolescents (mean age: 14.7 years) on ART, though still with detectable viral load, were recruited from an HIV clinic and divided into 5 balanced groups to participate in peer-led group-based CEI activities during routine clinic visits. Four assessments were conducted across four visits at baseline and 3-, 6-, and 9-month follow-up, respectively. Main outcomes were ART adherence and viral load. Linear mixed models and thematic analysis were used for data analyses. The majority (91.4%) of the participants attended all four intervention activities. Participants reported missing an average of 1.06, 0.50, 0.91, 0.55 doses of ART in the past 7 days at baseline, 3-, 6-, and 9-month assessments, respectively. Most viral loads were ≥5,000 copies/ml at both baseline (68.6%) and 6-month assessments (54.3%). The incentive was divided between individual compensation for attending clinic and completing the assessment ($5 each, $20 in total) and a group-based compensation valued at $40 that was distributed during the 9-month assessment according to average group attendance (A≥90%, B≥75%, C≥60%, D

Numerous studies have explored group cohesion and social action under stressful circumstances. Several theories such as social identity theory, social categorization theory and grievance theories o...

On a literary walking tour, many emotional ‘states’ are experienced by participants. These states have multiple causes, products and consequences, influenced in part by the socio-spatial identities of participants, their own imagined versions of the novel, and the material and cultural geographies of the tour itself. The Literary Atlas project sought to examine these emotional states by conducting literary walking tours based on English-language novels set in Wales. It attuned to the emotional states experienced by participants, in particular on a tour based around the locations cited in Malcolm Pryce’s Aberystwyth Mon Amour. It did so to examine the ways in which these states cohere and collide to actively constitute the ongoing composition of the real-and-imagined worlds produced through this emergent literary geography. Attuning to the affects of the literary tour suggest that the strengths and persistence of these emotional attachments – to individual’s own identities, imaginings and material places – come to define not only their place in the world, but also their world itself. As such, the ability of the participants to retain their cohesiveness as a group – however temporarily – in the face of difference and disagreement says much for their willingness to contextualise their own imaginings, and ultimately tolerate others’, in a world of relational multiplicity.

Sports are social, and the sociability of sports (e.g. individual experiences, group cohesion or generalised social trust) and its consequences (e.g. enjoyment, inclusion, or social capital) depend...

Many studies have verified that the effective promotion of both positive interactions among individual group members and group accountability is a critical issue in collaborative problem-ba...

Initially embraced as a protective measure, anonymity is now a cornerstone of Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) for reasons far beyond member confidentiality. This manuscript considers how today’...

Few studies have examined group cohesion and climate in the substance use disorder treatment literature. We examined whether group cohesion and climate are associated with increased self-efficacy outcomes and reduced drinks per week, binge drinking and DUI behaviors, in a sample of individuals with a first-time DUI receiving either cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) or usual care. Additionally, we examined whether CBT moderates these relationships. Group measures and drinking outcomes were not significantly associated. This study is the first to provide an in-depth analysis on group processes in DUI settings, and as such, provides important insights into how group processes may differ in a mandated DUI context.

Recent research has found that perceived information exchange between sport team members was positively associated with greater task cohesiveness. The purpose of the current research (two studies) ...

The effect of salary distribution on output productivity within the workplace has long been a topic of interest in labor economics. The salary compression hypothesis emphasizes cohesiveness among w...

Despite the common use of experiential training groups for group therapy training, the essential features of training groups have not been fully realized yet. Few studies have tested the impact of cohesion on trainees’ session-to-session development over the course of a training group. As such, this study empirically tested the association between trainees’ perceptions of group cohesion and their interpersonal awareness and social learning session-to-session. Results indicated that within- and between-trainee cohesion was significantly related to trainees’ social learning and interpersonal awareness. Additionally, time significantly moderated the between-trainee cohesion–social learning relationship, such that this relationship increased over time.

The author examines the relationship between the participation of disabled youths in religious activities and indigenous social work practices in Sri Lanka. Participant observation and household surveys were conducted in an area where the religious majority is Buddhist, followed by Muslim and Hindu. Religious activities arranged by social work practitioners provide opportunities for disabled youths to participate in the local community. This research found that social work practices promoted collective activities and increased cohesiveness, but the issue of marginalizing religious minorities in the area also emerged. Implications for non-Western social work practices are discussed.

This paper provides the first assessment of patterns of interprofessional collaboration in headspace centres - Australia's youth mental health service - to determine if agencies established to integrate care, deliver collaboration across professional boundaries. The staff of two headspace centres were surveyed to identify with whom they collaborated during routine work, and when faced with uncertain situations. Social network analysis was used to assess interprofessional collaboration within each center and across varying situations. Interprofessional collaboration was identified in both routine and uncertain situations. Staff of headspace (clinical and non-clinical) maintained a tendency to collaborate with colleagues outside of their professional group, compared to within. Networks were well connected when staff collaborated in routine work and when faced with uncertainty related to decision-making. However, there were fewer interactions during times of role uncertainty. The headspace centre that had been in operation for longer showed greater indicators of cohesiveness. Future research should consider context and self-organization when considering the efficacy of networks.

This study presents a qualitative, user-focused evaluation of a three-day dramatherapy workshop run as part of an 18-week treatment group for mentally disordered sexual offenders (MDSOs). The program is based in the Good Lives Model and aims overall to increase empathy, victim awareness, and emotional awareness. The objective of the present study was to understand offenders’ lived experiences of the workshop and how they perceived it to contribute to their recovery. Semistructured interviews were conducted with five offenders and their narratives transcribed. An Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis revealed four superordinate themes, which we have termed Not Being the Person I Was, Gaining New Perspectives, Social Relationships, and Barriers. These themes lend support to recent research on treatment and behavior change in sexual offenders emphasizing responsivity and process issues. This study gives particular emphasis to the need to encourage group cohesion and trust, and highlights issues rela...

This article explores the developmental and sociocultural context of difference, as well as the importance of engaging difference in order to establish group cohesion. As groups provide a microcosm...

This study investigated the effect of journal sharing in counselor education experiential growth groups. Outcome measures included change in group cohesion over time and rate of group cohesion chan...

Group processes in social work are complex. In this article, the authors examine how Norwegian leaders experience these processes during their grief support group work. The authors take a qualitative approach, specifically semistructured interviews. Seven group leaders participated. Using qualitative content analysis, the authors found new and supporting information as presented in two inter-related themes: (1) Achieving cohesion is a challenging balance and (2) Facilitating the group activity is linked to group leaders’ engagement and competence. The authors suggest that group work is enhanced by well-qualified leaders paying attention and understanding toward the ongoing group processes, homogenous groups, prescreening, individual timing, and group cohesion.

The authors investigated the antecedents of team task cohesiveness in service learning classroom environments. Focusing on task commitment and task attraction as key dependent variables representin...

OBJECTIVES: Understanding the group process informs group interventions. However, there is little systematic research on group process variables in psychotherapy groups for patients with cancer. METHODS: We analyzed the psychometric properties of the Group Therapy Experience Scale and evaluated its potential importance in advanced cancer therapy groups. RESULTS: The GTES demonstrated good internal consistency (coefficient alpha=.84). An exploratory factor analysis with varimax rotation yielded four factors. Although all four models were explored, the 1- and 2-factor models appeared to provide the best fit for the data. The GTES total score was negatively correlated with group size and positively correlated with number of groups attended by participants. Furthermore, the GTES total score was correlated with post-intervention spiritual well-being, benefit finding, post-traumatic growth and quality of life.

This paper analyses Knowledge Sharing (KS) behaviour of employees during unplanned, work-related face-to-face meetings with colleagues. Hypotheses were formulated from theory on how this behaviour relates to three categories of known KS antecedents (knowledge components, organisational distance, and network aspects). Data are obtained from detailed diaries on behaviour of 138 R&D employees of a research-based multinational company during their unplanned KS meetings with each other. Results show that such meetings show a lot of tacit KS and thus should not be overlooked in KS strategies. Also, the KS behaviour during these meetings relates significantly to several KS antecedents and for example, KS activities differ during meetings within and between teams. The data also suggest that a stronger emphasis on intentional unplanned meetings and a culture of shared responsibility for problems would yield more employee involvement and tacit KS, than simply steering on teams structure.

This study investigated how preservice teachers develop collective efficacy when preparing lesson plans for a science methods course, and how this collective efficacy changed over time. The data were collected from four preservice science teachers working in a group to fulfil the requirements of the course. Findings revealed that four factors, including collaborative work, sharing the same goal, attitudes towards group work and group cohesion, played an important role in the development of collective efficacy among preservice teachers. The study also showed that collective efficacy improved continuously over the semester.

The current study investigated the impact of adding the Suicide Status Form (SSF) to a suicide-focused group therapy for veterans recently discharged from an inpatient psychiatry setting. A sample of 141 veterans was enrolled and randomized into a Usual Assessment Group Therapy or SSF-Assessment Group Therapy. Participants completed interviews at baseline, 1, and 3 months. No significant differences were observed between groups regarding group attendance (IRR = 1.01, Std. Err = 0.08, 95% CI = 0.87, 1.18) or client satisfaction (β = 0.23, Std. Err = 0.66, p = 0.73, d = -.25). No main effects were observed across the study on secondary outcomes of interest for suicidal ideation and overall symptom distress, although participants in both treatment conditions reported significant improvements on these outcomes over the course of the study. Patients in the Usual Assessment Group Therapy demonstrated greater reductions in overall symptom distress across the 3-month follow-up window (β = 6.08, Std. Err = 2.04, p = 0.003; f

Research question: This study investigates the impact of initiation rituals on group development. Through the application of chaos theory, we examine how the trajectory of team development is inherently unpredictable due to the complex nature and uncertainty of initiation rituals.Research methods: The paper draws upon 42 interviews with student athletes from a UK university. The UK context provides a new perspective on initiation activities that are currently dominated by studies in a US setting.Results and findings: From our coding of interview data four themes emerge: Forced assimilation, Dejection, Commitment, and Performance. The results find initiation rituals force sport teams into a period of chaos where outcomes can vary from improved performance to dejection. Thus, sports teams can experience any, or all of the themes present in our findings, and previous group cohesion is an unreliable predictor for successful group development post-initiation.Implications: Theoretically, we further unde...

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meeting attendance and spiritual practices are established predictors of abstinence. This study utilized longitudinal data from two studies of AA to investigate 1) how perceived within meeting social dynamics in AA meetings affect later AA attendance, and thus exposure to the emphasis of spiritual practices and 2) influence the extent that spiritual gains are mobilized, beyond AA attendance. Findings revealed that greater group cohesion was associated with lower AA attrition, and that expressiveness, or openness, of the group predicted reported practice of spiritual behaviors. Findings reveal distinct group dynamics may foster distinct mechanism of change of AA attendees.

One of the most important components of effective teamwork is cohesiveness. However, few empirical studies on the antecedents and consequences of group cohesiveness exist. In response to this gap, ...

Group cohesion and affective commitment have shown to have critical relevance to military organizations in particular. The relationship between cohesion and affective commitment is established, and...

Construction is one of the oldest and most established project-based industries, bringing together a diverse collection of professionals for short periods of time. Within the temporary organization of projects, interaction among the participants ensures a smooth transmission of vital information that impacts the process of production planning. While involvement of participants in the planning process increases cohesiveness among them, the Last Planner System® (LPS) identifies detailed specification of the steps to be followed and the constraints to be removed for reliable execution of the project. To accomplish the goal of this study to understand the effect of LPS on the social interactions of the participants, a critical case study method was adopted. In-depth analyses of the interactions among the participants of two projects, one following LPS and another following traditional project planning, have been undertaken to illustrate the role of social interaction in each one of them. Weekly subcon...

This study used interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) to explore the lived experiences of five individuals diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) who underwent a group cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) intervention program to address their symptoms. Two master themes were identified: experiences and processes of change and reflections on change. For all participants, the degree of group cohesion or connectedness they established with group members emerged as highly important in facilitating therapeutic progress. A number of technical elements of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) were also notable therapeutic factors, including questioning/rationalizing maladaptive interpretations about intrusions. However, the commonality of non-specific group processes as key features for subsequent therapeutic change prompts the need for further research in dynamics within CBT group interventions for OCD.

Brainstorming is a technique to promote idea generation that may also promote cohesiveness in idea generating groups. Similarities between the rules of brainstorming and the logic of fantasy chaini...

Despite the prevalence of violent uprisings against the states, existing literature has produced a generalized explanation of the causes and onset of such uprisings ignoring crucial aspects of (non-state) armed group cohesion, such as their capabilities to manage intra-group tensions and rivalries. In this paper, I examine recent research in the field of civil conflict to understand the importance of investigating underlying constraints which can cause serious impediments to the capabilities of a state during the course of a war. The paper then focuses on the importance of internal strategic resources, such as pre-war and wartime sociopolitical networks in which insurgents mobilize, recruit new cadres and maintain intra-group cooperation, to suggest how it can contain the consequences of counterinsurgency operations and other state strategies on the internal cohesion of an insurgent group. A detailed case study of the Mizo National Front (MNF) in India demonstrates the argument’s plausibility.

The purpose of this study was to develop a grounded theory of how adolescents experience the cohesion process in rural school counseling groups. A total of 20 individual interviews with 7 participants were conducted. Data analysis generated the central category of the cohesion process as “sticking together,” which describes a “tight bond.” Feelings of belonging, positive feelings, open social interactions, and lasting connections further characterize the cohesion process as experienced by adolescent participants. This study provides a qualitative, descriptive view of how adolescents experience the cohesion process in school counseling groups. Implications for counselors and future research are discussed.

This research reexamines Durkheim’s classic premise that the division of labor influences whether social integration is founded around collective perceptions of similarity versus mutual dependence. Utilizing a laboratory experiment to examine the division of labor on an interactional level, this paper tackles two questions. First, do task specialization and task overlap differentially encourage collective perceptions of ingroup similarity and mutual need? Second, do task specialization and task overlap differentially utilize perceptions of ingroup similarity and mutual need when developing social attachment? This research investigates whether task-overlapping teams are more likely to develop “mechanically”-based social integration than “organically”-based integration, and vice versa for task-specialized teams. Results show that while task specialization was more likely to foster “expertise-based” need for others, this perception did not produce feelings of social integration. Instead, task-specialized tea...

Group supervision is an integral part of developing counseling skills and case conceptualization. Group supervision can also be used as a supervision intervention to facilitate the development of supervisory skills when group members are supervising counselors and the focus of the group is on supervision of supervision. As with any group, group supervision members can often become stagnated when group trust and cohesiveness have not been well developed, thus hindering the group supervision process. The authors describe how an intermodal expressive arts technique was employed to develop trust and cohesiveness in a supervision group that was experiencing ineffective group dynamics.