A treatment group or a task group can be used to provide patients with the required assistance. Regarding Paula Cortez, she has multiple health conditions that can adversely affect her pregnancy, meaning that numerous healthcare providers are involved in working with her (Walden University, n.d.). That is why a treatment group seems appropriate to the case under analysis because this intervention is used when it is necessary to meet members’ needs for support, education, and others (Toseland & Rivas, 2017). Paula has numerous mental and physical health issues, including HIV/AIDS diagnosis, Hepatitis C, bipolar disorder, and treatment non-adherence (Walden University, n.d.; Plummer et al., 2013). Consequently, it is reasonable to organize a treatment group for Paula to make her behavior more rational and responsible, which is a critical requirement for managing the numerous health issues that she has.
There are different kinds of treatment groups, and it is of significance to choose a suitable approach to ensure that positive outcomes can be achieved. As for the case under consideration, a support treatment group seems appropriate. The rationale behind this suggestion is that “support is a common ingredient of many successful treatment groups” (Toseland & Rivas, 2017, p. 36). The authors also admit that the selected strategy is effective in fostering mutual aid and assisting members in coping with stressful life events (Toseland & Rivas, 2017). It is possible to suggest that these goals are appropriate for Paula because she suffers from many conditions that make her involved in deviant behavior. Thus, being a member of a support treatment group can provide the patient with additional motivation and internal resources to adhere to the prescribed medications to control her health issues.
Since a treatment group was chosen, it is reasonable to comment on its characteristics. According to Toseland and Rivas (2017), this group has a specific purpose, leadership, focus, bond, composition, and communication. In particular, the aim would be to help Paula and other members manage stressful events by revitalizing coping abilities. Mutual aid would be a vital element of the leadership and focus characteristics. All the participants would develop a bond because of shared stressful experiences and challenges to deal with it. As for the composition, Paula’s multiple conditions denote that it would be challenging to create a homogenous group, meaning that a high level of inter-group diversity would be expected. Finally, the intervention could be effective if the participants do not hesitate to disclose personal information and practical coping strategies. This information denotes that sufficient attention should be devoted to ensuring confidentiality.
Using a treatment group as an intervention can lead to significant advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, positive features include empathy from multiple sources, mutual aid, the practice of new behaviors, solidarity, and many others (Toseland & Rivas, 2017). In particular, the proposed intervention gathers people having similar challenges and helps them share experiences of how to deal with problems. On the other hand, some disadvantages are also associated with treatment groups. According to Toseland and Rivas (2017), adverse effects refer to dependency on group members, breach of confidentiality, and insufficient attention drawn to less talkative members. However, one should admit that all these drawbacks can be mitigated, denoting that the advantages overweigh the disadvantages. That is why treatment groups seem an effective intervention to assist clients having multiple issues.
References
Plummer, S.-B., Makris, S., & Brocksen, S. M. (Eds.). (2013). Sessions case histories. Laureate International Universities Publishing.
Toseland, R. W., & Rivas, R. F. (2017). An introduction to group work practice (8th ed.). Pearson.
Walden University. (n.d.). Cortez multimedia: A meeting of an interdisciplinary team. MSW Interactive Homepage [Multimedia file]. Web.