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ABSTRACT
As health care professionals, nurses are faced with how to best select or refer individuals for participation in health care groups. This article explores how to assess candidates for group participation by utilizing inclusion and exclusion criteria offered by literature. An assessment format, designed by the author and based on these criteria, is offered to assist nurses in selecting group participants. Clinical examples illustrate the author's experience in utilizing this format.
By approaching the selection of group participants in a systematic manner, the chances that individuals prematurely terminate their group involvement dissatisfied and without benefit can be reduced.1 Premature termination, or withdrawal prior to the group reaching a stage where individuals can pursue their objectives within that group, is seldom a positive experience for individuals,2 and it may influence whether they continue to seek health care assistance. It also is a disruptive experience for the remainder of the group, and a source of discouragement and doubt as to whether group participation can be of benefit to them.1
Unfortunately, there is a lack of research in methods of selecting group participants.3'* (The author would like to caution the reader that most of the literature used in this paper applies to psychotherapy groups or encounter groups. In order to be generalized to other groups, research is needed. This is aside from the fact that little research has been done in selection of group participants for psychotherapy groups. However, the author believes that the literature does provide useful guidelines to select group participants, and we will gain nothing if we do not utilize them and empirically evaluate their efficiency.) However, the literature does offer guidelines, based on exclusion and inclusion criteria, to approach the selection process from a decisionmaking framework.4 The author is proposing the use of an assessment format (Figure 1) based on these criteria, that will assist the health care professional in structuring an interview in which potential candidates are screened for participation in various health care groups. This is not to say the use of this tool will make the selection process a cut-and-dry matter. There will be times an individual, who the interviewer had reservations about referring to a group, makes great progress through group participation. Conversely, a person who appeared highly...