The effectiveness and impacts of a school-based, trauma/grief-focused group treatment program for war-exposed youth in Bosnia and Herzegovina were investigated using semistructured focus groups, conducted separately for students and their school counselor group leaders. Overall, students' and leaders' evaluations of the groups were generally positive. General themes of outcomes and impacts perceived by students and group leaders include: acquisition of coping skills and attitudes, willingness to advocate for peers, improved interpersonal relationships, negative impacts, general positive impacts, impacts in the schools, impacts on the group and logistics of the program, and broader impacts on the perception of mental health in the community. The broad positive impacts of this program suggest that trauma/grief-focused group treatment intervention programs targeting trauma-exposed youth may be effective on multiple levels with war-exposed youth and their communities.

The effects of a feedback intervention directed at both members and leaders was examined in psychotherapy groups held in a university counseling center. Feedback consisted of group climate information using scores from the Group Climate Questionnaire, completed by members after each group session. The direct effects of the feedback intervention were assessed using scores on the Curative Climate Instrument as well as Group Climate Questionnaire subscales. These instruments were administered after each group session. Distal effects of the feedback intervention were examined using member symptom improvement (Outcome Questionnaire) and group attendance. Members and leaders in the experimental condition were given weekly written and graphical feedback and contrasted against comparable groups receiving no feedback. Results indicate the feedback intervention had little impact on the therapeutic factors and outcome. However, for members who reported that the group was high in conflict, the feedback intervention had a significant negative effect on outcome. Implications and directions for future research are examined.

The use of repeated measures to track the out-come of psychosocial interventions is becoming common practice in most organizations. One threat with this methodology is the retest artifact. This artifact is defined by a systematic change in scores for individuals who repeatedly complete an outcome instrument yet do not receive an) formal treatment. The retest artifact can call into question the validity of change associated with school-based treatment programs when this change is based upon repeated testing using outcome instruments. This study directly assessed the retest effect for both a youth and an adult psychosocial outcome measure. The frequency of retest administrations was systematically varied (weekly, biweekly, monthly, pre/post testing) over a 9-week period using a youth parent-report and an adult self-report Outcome Questionnaire. Results indicate a statistically significant improvement in functioning at the time of the second administration regardless of the lapse in time for the adult measure and a steady improvement in functioning for the parent-report youth measure. Implications of this finding for evaluating psychosocial interventions are discussed.

The Group Selection Questionnaire (GSQ), a promising measure intended to aid clinicians in managing group selection and composition, was tested in a two-phase study. Phase 1 was conducted in postwar Bosnia with war-traumatized secondary school students participating in a group treatment program in 10 schools. Results indicated that the GSQ demonstrated a factor structure consistent with theory, and the GSQ factors demonstrated predictive abilities for group process and outcome over multiple measures and multiple time periods. Phase 2 was conducted with college-age students participating in group treatment at a university counseling center. Phase 2 replicated the procedures of Phase 1 and tested 10 new items. Results indicated that the GSQ demonstrated a similar factor structure to Phase 1, and the revised scale was again predictive of group process and outcome, as well as attrition, across multiple time periods. The GSQ may be helpful to clinicians seeking to apply evidence-based practices in their group work.