The Family Growth Group: Guidelines for an Emerging Means of Strengthening Families

Currently emerging in many regions of the United States is a promising mode of education variously referred to as the family growth group, family cluster, or family enrichment program. The growth group may be defined as a program involving three to five families who meet together regularly and frequently for mutual care and support and for the development of potential. Such a program has at least three unique advantages as a means for strengthening families: (1) The growth group goes beyond most traditional life education programs by involving the whole together as a unit in the experience. Reuben Hill and Joan Aldous are critical of most life education programs for teaching individuals instead of being designed for families as groups (1969, 934). David Speer, who views traditional life education programs as sterile and superficial, calls for innovative programs that combine the new