The Role of the Group in Acquiring Self-Defense Skills

Using an interpretive approach to qualitative data analysis, the authors examined the importance of the group in women’s acquisition of skills during a Model Mugging (MM) self-defense course. Data were gathered during semistructured interviews with 59 female MM graduates. Interviews were analyzed using a consensus coding technique. Results indicated that the group context was instrumental in helping women to acquire self-defense skills and develop feelings of empowerment. Aspects of the group experience that were critical to course effectiveness included cohesiveness, altruism, emotional containment, witnessing, modeling, exploration of boundaries, and new relationships with other women. By integrating participants’ observations with theoretical and empirical reports of small group dynamics, these findings enable group leaders to monitor the functioning of small groups more sensitively and accurately.