Groupwork with Self-Referred Young Women with Low Self-Esteem by Alison Morris
This dissertation is submitted to the University of Bristol in accordance with the requirements of the Graduate School of Education for the degree of M.Ed. September 1998
SYNOPSIS
Many young people today face tremendous difficulties in their lives, and a number of them make use of the facilities at Off The Record, an information, advice and counselling service, for 13-25 year olds, which is the setting for this exploratory pilot research study. A series of six workshops on Confidence Building were held, to test the assumption that group work has the potential to enhance self esteem. An attempt was made to evaluate the level of self-esteem
of the participants before and after the project, by means of an interview, an evaluation questionnaire, and a further follow up questionnaire six weeks after finishing the workshops.
The purpose of the research study was twofold: to test the assumption that group work has the potential to enhance self esteem, and that group work should be considered as a new way of working for Off The Record.
This exploratory study found that the young women involved perceived themselves as being more competent and confident as a result of participation in the workshops. As an action research study for Off The Record it showed that there was tremendous benefit in working with young people using a structured counselling approach within group work.
The study drew attention to the lack of support for young people with a low sense of self esteem, particularly in the institutions in which they were being educated.
The recommendation of the study is that further rigorous research is needed to establish whether the self esteem of young people is enhanced through group work. Further, that organizations involved with young people, particularly schools, colleges, and universities, should consider initiating similar support groups, since, as this study shows, there is an obvious need for them.
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