NU245 Unit 7 Group Process Reflection Example

Coping Skills That Work at 3 A.M.: A Group Process Reflection on a Composite Inpatient Group of Seven, Where One Member Held the First Fifteen Minutes and a Quiet Man's Fear of Nights Drew the Session's First Real Agreement

[Student Name]

Purdue University Global

NU245: Mental Health Nursing

Unit 7 Group Process Reflection

[Instructor Name]

[Date]

The group, leader and members are composite and carry no identifiers; the student observed from within the circle and did not lead.

Setting and Structure

The group met at [1400] in the unit's activity room: seven members, an occupational therapist leading and me sitting in the circle as an observer, introduced as a nursing student. It was an open group, meaning membership changes daily as people are admitted and discharged; two members were attending for the first time. Chairs were in a circle, and the topic was written on the whiteboard before members arrived.

Process Observed

The first fifteen minutes. A woman in her fifties answered the leader's opening question and kept talking, moving from sleep to her daughter to a nurse she disliked. Others looked at the floor or the clock. One man shifted his chair back. Nobody else spoke. The redirect. At about fifteen minutes the leader said, "Thank you, that's a lot to carry at night. I'd like to hear from a few others about what happens for them at three in the morning." She turned slightly toward the rest of the circle as she said it. The woman stopped, nodded and sat back. The leader did not criticize her, and she stayed engaged for the rest of the session. The remark. After a pause, a man in his thirties who had not spoken said, "I'm afraid of nights. Days are fine. Nights I lie there and think." Three members nodded. One said, "Me too. Nights are the worst." Another said she turns on the radio. For the first time, members spoke to each other rather than to the leader. The board filled quickly after that: radio, a cold washcloth, writing worries on paper, asking for staff.

The skills on the board came after the room discovered it shared a fear; the agreement was the intervention, and the list was what it produced.

Therapeutic Factors

Yalom described therapeutic factors that help group members change. Two were visible in this session (Yalom & Leszcz, 2020). Universality, the discovery that others share one's problems, appeared when the quiet man's fear drew nods and "me too." Instillation of hope appeared when members described things that had helped them, which showed newer members that nights could become manageable. Imparting information was present too, in the list itself, but it followed the other two rather than causing them.

The Leader's Skill

The redirect deserved description because it was easy to miss. The leader acknowledged the first member's content before moving on, used the group's topic as the reason to widen the circle and changed her body position to invite others. Managing a member who monopolizes is a common task in groups, and doing it without shaming keeps that member in the group (Corey et al., 2018).

Why an Open Group Rarely Settles

With two new members and others being discharged, the group could not build on last week's session. Each meeting has to rebuild enough trust for members to speak. That may explain why the first fifteen minutes belonged to one voice: silence feels unsafe in a new group, and someone fills it.

My Own Reaction

I felt the urge to rescue the quiet man when he spoke, to say something reassuring. I held back because the group responded first, and their "me too" did more than anything I could have said. That urge to rescue is something I need to watch; in a group, the most helpful response may come from another member, not from staff (Halter, 2022).

What I Did Not See

An observer sees only part of a group. I could not know what the woman who spoke first was carrying that day, or why the quiet man chose that moment to speak. Two members never spoke at all, and I cannot say whether the group helped them or not. One of them left five minutes early. Writing down what I saw, and being clear about what I could not see, keeps the reflection honest about the limits of observation from a single session. Next time I would note who left early and ask my nurse afterward whether anyone followed up with them.

What I Will Take Into Practice

On the unit, I will notice when patients mention nights and connect them with each other where appropriate. In any group I help with, I will watch who is not speaking as well as who is, and wait before filling a silence.

References

Corey, M. S., Corey, G., & Corey, C. (2018). Groups: Process and practice (10th ed.). Cengage Learning.

Halter, M. J. (2022). Varcarolis' foundations of psychiatric-mental health nursing: A clinical approach (9th ed.). Elsevier.

Yalom, I. D., & Leszcz, M. (2020). The theory and practice of group psychotherapy (6th ed.). Basic Books.