Intimate Behavior and the Assessment of Benefits in Clinical Groups

Abstract

In a series of studies, three measures of clinical group benefits are developed These scales assess intimate behavior—a construct hypothesized to be central to the explication of group benefits. Intimate behavior increases awareness and knowledge of the emotional, cognitive, and behavioral functioning of self (intrapersonal intimacy) and of others, and the relationship of self to others (interpersonal intimacy). The three measures developed in this study assess performance of the behaviors in a group (or any other given setting), attitudes toward the behaviors, and performance of the behaviors in every day life. Elicitation of behavior in groups is readily accomplished, but it is constrained by person and situation variables. Attitudes toward the behaviors are volatile, changes in behavior outside the group are more difficult to effect