ABSTRACT
In the study of the small-group ward treatment program conducted in 1964 and described earlier (pp. 28-29), only a limited investigation was made of the dimensions of group structure and process in patient groups; the information gained was incomplete and dealt with only a few of the many possible variables (Fairweather, 1964). But the completion of that experiment did not signal the end of interest in more detailed study of group processes on the experimental ward. Interest persisted for several reasons—the ordinary scientific curiosity about a little-known subject, the continued interest in the social system (i.e., the experimental small-group program) which provided the participants in the experimental groups for this study (pp. 29-30), and the opportunity provided by the current research project to make a comparative study of such group processes in the two different settings which together comprised the innovative treatment subsystem described in this book, namely, the hospital ward and the community lodge. The rapid turnover of group membership in the hospital setting offered a further opportunity to observe such processes as they were affected by changing group membership. It seemed to the research staff especially important to discover how stable the group processes would be with changing group members and how a complete change in membership might affect these processes. Finally, information could be obtained on the development of a group from its birth, so that it offered the possibility of studying some of the processes that occur in the evolution of groups. To 278satisfy all these interests, data for a longitudinal analysis of group processes both in the hospital program and in the community social subsystem were collected. The results of these analyses will be presented in two segments: an account of group processes in the hospital setting will be presented first; then a description of the same processes as they occurred in the community setting will conclude this chapter.
