Group Coleadership: A Critical Review

Abstract

A review of group literature, much of which is anecdotal or theoretical, revealed that coleadership has been a common practice in training and therapeutic settings for well over 50 years. Careful examination of group practice reveals a surprisingly small amount of empirical evidence to support what apparently is a widely practiced method for the training of group leaders. However, the anecdotal support of group coleader practice is impressive if not convincing. That scholarly work is summarized in this article, and research implications for coleader practice are discussed as they relate to counselor preparation.

Coleadership Among Chief Residents: Exploration of Experiences Across Specialties

“…18 The results of this study corroborated the highlighted advantages and some of the challenges from the literature on coleaders. Co-chiefs reported incidents of conflict and poor communication; they did not report any incidents of competition, envy, or overdependence.…”

“…One study highlighted the advantages to coleadership as ongoing processes of learning from, supporting, and challenging one another as well as not working in isolation. 18 Disadvantages of coleadership include the potential for interpersonal conflict, ineffective …”

Ceza İnfaz Kurumundaki Erkek Transseksüeller ile Bilişsel Davranışçı Öfke Kontrol Programı Bir Grup Çalışması

“…Ancak ortak liderlik yönteminin grup dinamiğini pozitif yönde etkilediği gibi bir takım etik sorunları da beraberinde getirmektedir. Özellikle liderlerin farklı geçmiş deneyimleri, güçleri ve statüleri olması liderler arası bir yarışa neden olabilmekte, bu da grup dinamiğini olumsuz etkileyebilmektedir (26,29). Bu çalışmada grup liderlerinden birinin uzman adli psikolog olması ve diğer liderlerin ise psikoloji dördüncü sınıf öğrencileri olması nedeniyle farklı statü ve mesleki deneyim sorunlarının ortaya çıktığı, bunun da grup dinamiğini olumsuz yönde etkilemiş olabileceği düşünülmektedir.…”

Association of Cotherapy Supervision With Client Outcomes, Attrition, and Trainee Effectiveness in a Psychotherapy Training Clinic

“…A solo trainee backed up by after‐the‐fact meetings with a supervisor might be better able to handle individual therapy cases. Along these lines, it seems noteworthy that cotherapy is widely accepted as a training and supervision method in the group therapy literature, though for the most part, this acceptance is based on theoretical considerations and anecdotal observation rather than outcome research data (Luke & Hackney, ).…”