Is it worth paying for group therapy?
Reviewed by Anna Volkmer

Group therapy for post-stroke communication difficulties has been described in the research literature for more than 50 years and is generally considered an efficacious approach. Yet these authors express concern that the American Medicare system is less willing to fund this approach than they are willing to fund individual therapy in inpatient rehabilitation settings. This article considers the research literature on group interventions for this group; describing both the benefits of this approach, and how to deliver good quality group treatments. Benefits are outlined as increased insight and self-awareness, initiation and motivation related to social connectedness and generalisation and maintenance of trained target behaviours. These can be achieved as long as groups are carefully designed to address individuals’ goals (even if they differ) and group members carefully selected (up to six members with homogenous or heterogeneous communication difficulties), facilitated by an expert speech and language therapist who maximises person centeredness ensuring a naturalistic context where possible, provides appropriate tools so members can participate and designs a session that encourages participants to interact with one another. The authors highlight a recent Cochrane review demonstrating that group therapy can achieve the same outcomes as individual interventions. This emphasises the importance of group therapy as equally valuable, if not more in some cases, than individual therapy. This review provides a useful analysis of the core components that differentiate it from individual therapy. The funding structure of our national health service has undergone some changes in recent years and will undergo many more. Using current research to justify current service delivery costs, comparing this with patient needs, risks and outcomes, is a helpful reminder when considering service delivery in a clinical setting.

Providing effective speech-language pathology group treatment in the comprehensive inpatient rehabilitation setting.
Baron C, Holcombe M, van der Stelt C.
SEMINARS IN SPEECH AND LANGUAGE
2018;39(1):53-65.