How to Evaluate Your Support Group

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    (This page is referenced from Start a Virtual Support Group to Help With Stresses of COVID-19.)

    The term “evaluation” sometimes sounds a bit threatening to people, like they are afraid of being judged. However, the process of evaluating something is what often generates the most insights and learning about what they are doing. It also generates recommendations to make things even better.

    The agenda for a support meeting (in the Quick Reference tool) suggests that members evaluate their current meeting by having each member share a rating of the quality of that meeting.

    Below is a reference to a brief evaluation form that you could suggest right after the third and sixth meetings. Show the form to your group members to be sure that they understand it and are comfortable with it.

    Ideally, someone outside of the group would gather the results and analyze them. That often produces the most honest responses from the group members because they know other members won’t be seeing their opinions of the group.