The Arts in Psychotherapy Examining roles in children’s group therapy: Applying a dramaturgical role instrument to group process

In this group process study of two children’s verbal psychotherapy groups in an outpatient clinic, group roles were examined through the development and application of a novel dramaturgical coding instrument and the use of trained raters to analyze videotaped scenes of interaction. Exploratory data analysis was conducted that compared individual members within groups, group-level data between groups, and members who showed clinical change with those who did not. The results suggest the potential utility, for researchers and therapists, of applying dramaturgical roles to group process. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Since the early days of psychoanalysis, a discipline in which it is commonto readabout thepsychoanalytic stageand the theatre of the mind (McDougall, 1985; Nuetzel, 1999; Ringstrom, 2007; Walsh, 2013), theatrical metaphors have been used to describe and frame psychotherapy processes. As a relational art form characterized by engagement, action, and interaction (Lothane, 2009; Woodruff, 2008), theater has rich overlapswith group therapy,where interaction betweenmembers is often imbuedwith conflict, catharsis, and the exploration of interpersonal themes. Despite the similarities, McLeod (1984)was among the only theorists to explicate the parallels betweengroupprocess anddrama.Henotedhowgroupsunfold like the plot of a play as members gradually reveal themselves to, andbecomeentangledwith, one another. This development is facilitated by the leader who, in McLeod’s framework, functions as a director by fostering the expression of plot and characterization within the group. In addition to aiding in the development of group theory, drama has been used by researchers as a framework for understanding children’s play behaviors. Sutton-Smith (1979) characterized play and all other expressive forms as performances that occur before real or imagined audience members. He described this interaction as a quadrilogue, a conversation taking place between the player (or actor), co-actor(s), director, and audience. Given the parallels between group process, drama and play, it seems reasonable that dramaturgy could provide a useful framework for analyzing ∗ Permanent address: 510 North Broadway, White Plains, NY 10606, USA. Tel.: +1 917 439 7892. E-mail address: [email protected] interactions andbehavior during children’s group therapy sessions. However,more research is needed to determineways inwhichdramaturgical analysis might inform therapists about group process. This paper presents an exploratory study conducted with two outpatient children’s verbal psychotherapy groups that introduces a dramaturgical instrument for studying group process. The study aligns with theorists who have charged drama therapists with the tasks of making advances that contribute to the wider mental health field (Johnson, 1999) and using quantitative methods in research (Jones, 2012). The concept of group process as drama initially emerged during qualitative data analysis of a pilot study on the interaction patterns of improvers and non-improvers in a children’s group (Haen, 2013). The results from the pilot informed the research questions for the present study, which used quantitative approaches to data gathering and analysis.