Abstract
Group work is an established approach in social work practice and an efficacious method of intervention for psychosocial problems. With the decline in group education in Canada, and a greater reliance on field instructors to provide group training, there is a need for a training framework that incorporates the complexity of knowledge translation and professional development. In response to this identified need, a training framework was developed to support research-informed practice and experiential learning in group competencies. The current thesis employed a qualitative study to explore group trainees' and field instructors' experiences and perceptions of a training framework, the Participant Observer Group Training Framework (POGTF). Template Thematic Analysis (Brooks et al., 2015) was used to analyze the data. Six main themes emerged from the analysis: (a) the participant observer role provided opportunity for the group trainees to engage in personal growth and professional development through experiential participation in a group; (b) knowledge translation was an essential step in developing structural knowledge, case conceptualization, and professional uses of self; (c) the group trainees who used research to inform practice were more likely to engage in an evidence-based practice process; (d) observation was a key learning pathway for the group trainees; (e) participant observation supported understanding of group processes, but conceptualization of a professional response also required knowledge translation; and (f) group trainees used the participant observer role to learn content and procedural knowledge. The results suggest that the combination of participant observation in groups, the use of a structured critical reflection tool, and weekly supervision supported both personal growth and professional development. Differential learning pathways occurred between group trainees who engaged in observation of group stages and processes alone, and those who additionally linked group events to research or theory. The group trainees in the current thesis did not report learning how to implement, score, or interpret outcome measures. The results suggest that certain components of the training framework were more easily adhered to by the group trainees and trainers in this study, which has implications for group training in field education.
