Gli stili narrativi dei gruppi dinamici come indicatori di cambiamento: ipotesi teoriche e proposte metodologiche

The paper provides a theoretical and methodological reinterpretation of group dynamic from a strategicintegrated perspective through the definition and the systematic exploration of the scientific values of the link between group dynamics and narratives. The hypothesis is that the groups have a specific narrative style as a function of the stage in which they actually are and that this style can be identified through some specific indicators. Based on the experience gained in many years of working with groups in the fields of clinics and training, the author has carried out a highly innovative research aimed to investigate the link between narratives, intended as narrative style, and dynamic-developmental stages that the group goes through. In order to investigate the hypothesis that groups have a specific narrative style as a function of the stage in which they are and that this style can be identified through some specific indicators, a particular instrument has been employed. This instrument, developed by the author over the years and called Dynamic Group’ Narrative Style Classification Grid (G.I.N), is composed by a set of narrative indicators that are helpful to frame the developmental status of a group in a given moment. The research has been carried out employing the ideographic method and applying a qualitative data analysis methodology, starting from the use of the Grid within two different group contexts. A first narrative analysis has been carried out in a clinical/training setting on the base of empirical observations and a set of audio data referring to a certain number of group dynamics conducted monthly by the author between 2009 and 2010 at the Scupsis Postgraduate School of Psychotherapy in Rome. In addition, the Grid has also been used in a non-clinical context, namely a Mutual and Self-help group such as the A.M.A. Association one. The results of the narrative analysis carried out in both contexts allow us to draw some important conclusions. Firstly, the accurate reading of the group participants’ narratives through the analysis of their structure (verbal-linguistic structure, contents structure and emotional-climatic structure) provides the opportunity for a deeper reading of both the group process and the emotional state that the group is going through in a particular time. Therefore, the clinicians can make use of this information to direct more effectively their interventions in order to make the group evolve, to produce changes in the participants and to verify them at the same time. Based on the results obtained, it was also shown how the Grid is an effective tool in detecting the developmental stage reached by group participants in different group contexts. [edited by Author]