Date Presented 3/30/2017
Understanding outcomes can inform best practices for group training in occupational therapy. A reliable and valid tool can help evaluate outcomes to determine ways to effectively educate group leaders. The Group Leader Self-Assessment tool shows promise in terms of psychometric properties.
Primary Author and Speaker: Mary Alicia Barnes
Additional Authors and Speakers: Elizabeth Marfeo
Contributing Authors: Sharan L. Schwartzberg, Gary Bedell
PURPOSE: The Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE; 2011) identifies understanding principles of group development and dynamics as an education requirement. Group training outcomes examined using quantitative and qualitative methods suggest personal and professional growth (Ohrt, Robinson, & Hagedorn, 2013). Measuring outcomes remains difficult as tools to measure group leader competence and confidence vary in psychometric properties and foci (Chapman, Baker, Porter, Thayer, & Burlingame, 2010). The Group Leader Self-Assessment (GLSA) was designed to measure trainee perception of leader ability. Items were based on seminal literature, current literature, and items adapted with permission from the Group Leader Self-Efficacy Instrument (Page, Pietrzak, & L sewis, 2001).
DESIGN: This poster describes GLSA development to date, sharing results from a descriptive study using a pre–post research design to evaluate construct validity (responsiveness, internal consistency, preliminary factor structure) and test–retest reliability. Participants were occupational therapy students in their first year of a master’s program. Group Leader Training was a required group theory and practice course. GLSA pre–post was administered online via Qualtrics survey software (Version 1.138s; Provo, UT). A control group (n = 17) was used to determine intrarater reliability, which was assessed via intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC; Model 3, one-way random effect; ICC = .92).
RESULTS: Study results demonstrated GLSA responsiveness (summary score paired t tests, p < .0001, Cohen’s d = 1.74, n = 110). Internal consistency using Cronbach’s alpha if item removed (Cronbach’s alpha = .92) was determined. Preliminary factor structure suggested a four-factor structure consistent with the four leader functions identified in seminal literature (Lieberman, Yalom, & Miles, 1973, as cited in Yalom & Leczsz, 2005).
CONCLUSION: Group leader reasoning is a complex skill that requires education and practice. The Group Leader Self-Assessment tool offers a reliable and valid means for measuring educational outcomes as well as a potential method for monitoring professional development.
References
Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education. (2011). 2011 Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE
®
) standards and interpretive guide. Retrieved from http://www.aota.org/∼/media/Corporate/Files/EducationCareers/Accredit/Standards/2011-Standards-and-Interpretive-Guide.pdf
Chapman, C. L., Baker, E. L., Porter, G., Thayer, S. D., & Burlingame, G. M. (2010). Rating group therapist interventions: The validation of the Group Psychotherapy Intervention Rating Scale. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, 14, 15–31. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0016628
Ohrt, J. H., Robinson, E. H. M., III, & Hagedorn, W. B. (2013). Group leader development: Effects of personal growth and psychoeducational groups. Journal for Specialists in Group Work, 38, 30–51. https://doi.org/10.1080/01933922.2012.732982
Page, B. J., Pietrzak, D. R., & Lewis, T. F. (2001). Development of the Group Leader Self-Efficacy Instrument. Journal for Specialists in Group Work, 26, 168–184. https://doi.org/10.1080/01933920108415736
Yalom, I. D., & Leszcz, M. (2005). The theory and practice of group psychotherapy (5th ed.). New York: Basic Books.
