ABSTRACT
Group work, like casework, has been defined as a method of treatment whose purpose is the improved social functioning of clients. 1 Although the social work literature abounds in descriptive typologies and case studies aimed at facilitating the practitioner’s diagnostic skills, few articles have pointed to a specific set of procedures of intervention available to the social worker for the emelioration of the client’s problems. In the absence of a theoretical foundation that would aid in specifying the worker’s actions, little progress in this direction could be made. With the introduction of learning theory into social work, however, conceptual tools became available for describing in detail a large number of procedures of intervention, many of which have been systematically evaluated and effectively demonstrated in a variety of contexts.
