Effectiveness of therapeutic groups in psychosocial care: analysis in the light of yalom’s therapeutic factors

ABSTRACT Objective: to describe professionals’ perceptions about the therapeutic effectiveness of group care. Method: a descriptive, exploratory, qualitative research of the type of intervention carried out with 30 professionals from Psychosocial Care Centers for Alcohol and Drugs in a municipality in center-westerns Brazil, from March to April 2019. Self-applicable instruments and round circles were used. The emerging data were submitted to content analysis. Results: professionals perceive the benefits of group practices and relate them to some therapeutic factors in the group. It is evident the little formal and systematized knowledge about the group process elements. Final Considerations: the therapeutic effectiveness of group processes is compromised due to absence of systematic records that allow to perceive the therapeutic progress of users, even though professionals perceive the emergence of therapeutic factors of the groups in the context of psychosocial care.