94 ● Patrick Vakaoti
with each other. Introductions must not delve into members’ personal
details or expose confidential information. Group facilitators must
ensure that icebreakers reflect the group’s purpose and are inclusive,
so as not to discourage members from engaging with the group at the
outset.● (^) Brainstorming is a common group activity, intended to encourage
maximum participation from group members about an issue under
discussion. Brainstorming is intended to be a free thinking exercise in
which every answer is considered equally. It is important that ideas be
recorded in some organized fashion as they are expressed. An open dis-
cussion of ideas should follow, once the group feels that it has exhausted
all possible contributions.
● (^) Stimulus materials, namely visual and audio materials, such as photo-
graphs, drawings, video, or sound recordings, may be used to generate
discussion about a particular issue, particularly for group members
who have difficulty contributing to a discussion in a timely manner.
Although the group leader often provides the stimulus material and
facilitates discussion around it, group members may also be asked to
participate by bringing stimulus material that is related to the group’s
purpose or the issue under discussion.
● (^) Role play activity engages group members in acting out characters or
roles within a particular context. Role play settings should reflect the
group’s purpose and support skills development for individual mem-
bers. Role plays are sometimes useful in alerting a group member who
is in denial about certain issues. Role plays should be followed up with
a debriefing. Group facilitators must be aware that some participants
may be unwilling to engage in role plays; any activity should only be
adopted with the consent of all group members.
● (^) Continuums are used to help group participants to identify their positions
about a certain issue. Continuums employ the use of either an imaginary
or a drawn line (on a board or flip chart, for example), depicting opposing
extreme positions about an issue. In using a continuum, group mem-
bers are made aware of their positions in relation to those of their peers.
Although awareness of the diversity is helpful, it may also highlight
deep-seated and conflicting views held among group members. Given
that these differences can lead to group conflict, continuums need to be
used with skillful tact.
● (^) Small group formation is another useful way of generating group discus-
sion. Groups often have vocal and dominant members, as well as mem-
bers who are less vocal and dominant. A skillful way of distributing this
dominance is to divide members into pairs or other small groups to