Social Work Research: Measuring Group Success The 12-week psychoeducational support group for survivors of trauma I facilitated consisted of eight women (five of whom identified as Caucasian and three of whom were Hispanic in origin) who had a history of sexual abuse and/or incest. All of the women spoke English, were between 30 and 50 years old, and identified as heterosexual. One woman in the group was married, and the rest were either divorced or single. Five of the women had children. The majority were gainfully employed except for one group member who had multiple sclerosis and was on Social Security Disability Insurance. Members were recruited via internal agency referrals or referrals from other social workers. All members were required to meet individually with a social worker while they attended group. The majority of the group members were incest survivors; only two were molested by strangers. All of the members had struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms that included hypervigilance, nightmares, flashbacks, and anxiety. The abuse had affected their interpersonal relationships, professional growth, self-esteem, and general quality of life. The majority of incest survivors in the group had estranged themselves from their families as a result of anger and resentment toward a parent who did not protect them from the abuser. My treatment goal was teaching group members how to accept and integrate their abuse into their life narratives so that the events did not define who they were as individuals. With the tools learned during the group process, members would then be able to manage their lives, utilizing learned mindfulness and relaxation techniques, positive affirmations, and coping skills that would assist them in making healthy life choices. During each of the 12 weeks, I covered a specific topic related to life issues affected by sexual abuse. All members were asked to sign confidentiality agreements and review group rules during the first meeting. Members’ feelings were validated and supported throughout the process. I gave a pretest to each member in the form of a Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS). The scale was administered in order to measure members’ current emotional baselines before being exposed to the therapeutic group process. The basic 42-item questionnaire was known to have high internal consistency and to yield meaningful discriminations in a variety of settings. Members were asked to use 4-point severity/frequency scales to rate the extent to which they had experienced each state. The Likert scale indicated a “0” for the least depressed/anxious/stressed choice and “3” for the most depressed/anxious/stressed choice per item. Total scores ranged from a minimum of 0 (no distress) to a maximum distress of 126. Scores for each symptom were summed, and the higher scores indicated more distress. The pretest scores summed by symptom for group members consisted of the following: depression 210, anxiet.