The art of groupwork practice with manualized curricula

There is a growing trend in social work toward the use of group-based manuals. Occasionally considered to be opposing approaches, practice based on manualized curricula and practice based on group processes are – in our view – complementary to each other. In this paper, we examine the advantages and disadvantages of manuals as a basis for practice. We offer a series of design and practice principles intended to assist designers and users of manuals. We illustrate the application of these principles with a manualized program, Making Choices, whose aim is to decrease aggression and improve peer relationships in elementary school children.

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