Training Group with Mental Health Professionals

Lee, Hoo Kyeong; Kim, Sun Jae; Yoon, Sung Chul

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
Training group with mental health professionals includes didactic process, experience as a member(patient) and a leader(therapist). It is divided into four parts as like 1) lecture, case conference, book reading and seminar about theory and practice, 2) observation, 3) training group(including workshop), and 4) supervision. Among them, the training group and the supervision have been accepted as the most effective methods. Authors have developed and practiced the training group model for mental health professionals including psychiatric residents which aim for the activation of group psychotherapy in mental health area, psychiatrists' initiative in group psychotherapy area, and the training and nurturing of qualified mental health professionals. The objectives of this study are as follows;firstly, we examine the change of defense mechanism and ego function after performing group psychotherapy for mental health professionals;secondly, we analyze the therapeutic factors reported that participants were helped;thirdly, we analyze main features which include group content and process manifested in training group:lastly, we have objectives that the training group is settled down as an effective educational method to foster the personal growth and qualification as a specialist, and also that this study provides a basic research data to set up the training program and the requirements for group psychotherapy.
METHODS
This study was performed 5 times from 1997 to 2000. The participants were composed of 37 mental health professionals including psychiatric residents. Among them, 29 participants(male 2, female 27) were chosen as the final subjects except 9 participants dropped out in the process of this study. At first, we take an application of pre-treatment/post-treatment experimental design to evaluate the personality change after performing the training group. EDMT(Ewha Defence Mechanism Test) and EC(Egogram Checklist), the objective questionnaires, were used as the evaluation scale. And 13-therapeutic factor scale and simple subjective questionnaires were performed just after each session and the self-report total assessment questionnaires were performed at the end of this study.
RESULTS
To compare mean scores between pre-treatment and post-treatment in EDMT, the mature defense was increased significantly, the immature defense was decreased significantly, and the narcissistic defense and neurotic defense were not changed significantly. To compare mean scores between pre-treatment and post-treatment in EC, Nurturing Parent(NP), Adult(A) and Free Child(FC) were increased significantly. Therapeutic factors ranked highly were interpersonal learning, existential factor, Identification with therapist, catharsis, and socializing technique in order. The total assessment questionnaires reported that the 100% of participants were helped, the 48.3% of participants were changed in their lives, the 89.7% of participants would propose training group to others positively, and the 58.6% of participants had minds to join this kind of program if given again for them.
CONCLUSIONS
This result showed that the defense mechanism and ego function of participants were changed. The training group experience makes participants reflect themselves, examine their conflicts and understand others. That also gives them chances of improving insight about group phenomena and understanding about therapeutic factors essential to the mental health professionals, having confidence on the group therapy by learning leadership and techniques, and improving understanding about the psychotherapy on the whole. Therefore, it is needed in the future that the training group would be widely adapted as an educational tool of psychotherapy and group psychotherapy for the mental health professionals as well as psychiatric residents in mental health area.