ABSTRACT
The issue of diversity in group work has received mixed attention over the past several decades. Merta (1995) reported that Kurt Lewin’s work to decrease racial tensions seemed to be the first concerted effort to apply group work to issues of diversity but also noted that this strand of inquiry and application largely disappeared after Lewin’s death. In the early 1990s, group work once again focused on the issues of diversity as the mental-health field become more interested in the growing pluralist nature of our society (DeLucia-Waack 1996; Patterson 1996). In 1999, the Association for Specialists in Group Work approved The Principles for Diversity Competent Group Workers (ASGW 1999).
