The Analysis of Group Process in Women's Support Groups

The study is devoted to the impact of the format of women's support group at group processes that interferes the achievement of the group's goals. The object of the research is an open free support group for women in different difficult life situations "Women's Stories", which the author organized and facilitated from September 2017 to September 2020 in Moscow and St. Petersburg. In this study one’s can find the analyses of the materials collected over a three-year period of the support group; the description of the influence of group processes on the achievement of the tasks facing each group meeting; the examination of the differences in the group processes of regular group meetings and theme-centered groups; and the comparison between the functioning of the group in full-time and online mode. The hypothesis put forward and confirmed was about the necessity of combination of different formats of groups in order to obtain the maximum effect in the management of group processes of a support group.