control when individual. behavior becomes group-destructive. From a sense of group identity comes a sense of individual identity. TI1e state of the mature work group may l'ast for the remainder of the group's life, with periodic short-lived repetitions of earlier stages. During the stage of advanced work group o·r true teamwork, the tension is between "workr or progress, and regression to an earlier stage. The nursing interventions, tasks, and techniques can help minimize the group's tendencies for regression at an earlier stage, or these can help minimize the eff~ts of regression on group members or on the group process. The Termination Stage After being together and working on specified "tasks·~, members of groups experience a sense o[ ending. Sometimes this can be temporary as when a particular session or meeting ends. At other times this can be a permanent one, when the group's reason for being ends, as when a project or program has been accomplished. According to Dunphy (1965, pp. 384-399), tl,e tasks of the group at this stage may include: finishing the agenda, estnblishing key decisions and completing the group product, tying up loose ends and writing oft unfinished business. The key emotions are joy and sadness. The group celebrates for the work and achlevements done. However, there is emotion al coping \. vitb the loss of valued personal relationships. There is a joking, laughing, ritual (parties, graduation, etc. ) and expression of sorrow or withdrawal_ The Various Stages at Work Although the stages can be described as such, the developmental sequence should not he taken literally. The stages are rarely demarcated. There is consider able overlapping of the boundaries bcnveen them. The group may go through the various stages in one session. 1 t may. however, CJrperienc e the manifestations of one stage quite dominant in one session and those of lhe next stage in a subsequent session. It is to be made clear also that rnrely does the group pemrnnently graduate from one stage. In describin g group formatio n or group growth, Wilfo1m Schutz (1965, pp. 123-135), uses the analogy of tighlenlng the behs of the wheel one after another just enough so that the wheel is in place; then the process is repeated, each bolt tightened in turn until the wheel is ent-irely secure. In a similar fashion., the stages of a group emerge, become dominant, and then recede, only to have the group return again later to deal,vith the same issues, concerns and problems with greater t J1oroughness. The group returns to the same issues but each time from a different perspective and each time in greater depth. The nature an<l extent of the group's expression of interpersonal issues, conflicts, needs, and problems depend upon the degree of cohesiven ess existing in the group during the initial stage of its formation. A group whose members had worked effective ly together on some activity sometime in the past, may ex-perien ce more depth in dealing with interpersonal concerns and problems tlian a group whose members are meeting only for the first time to do teamwork on a tas·k or project. INTERVENTIONS TO FACILITATE GROUP GROWTH The discussion on the stages of group formation provides a means for understanding the dynamic processes that go on in groups. It can help the nurse identify where the group is, to predict in what direction it might move, and to identify the assets within the group that might be utilized or max:imi. zed. The interventions, tasks, and techniques that shall be discussed in the following subsections are all directed towards 135 