Telephone Group Work: Challenges for Practice

ABSTRACT

The telephone conference call group is growing in popularity. The convenience, the anonymity, and the increased accessibility offered by this type of group enlarges the scope of group work practice. Along with its advantages, the telephone conference call group can present the worker and the members with challenges not encountered in a face-to-face situation. This paper looks at a telephone conference call group with four homebound elderly women and discusses five areas of difficulty identified during that experience. Illustrations depicting these difficulties are provided. Anticipating and preparing for the challenges can help the social worker to maximize the benefits of a telephone conference call group and to facilitate a rewarding experience for all of the participants.

KEYWORDS:

• Telephone groups
• conference call groups
• group work
• elderly