Examining roles in children's group therapy: Applying a dramaturgical role instrument to group process

•A dramaturgical coding instrument was developed.•The instrument was applied in children's group therapy process research.•Data were used for quantitative within-group and between-groups comparisons.•Dramaturgical analysis has utility for group therapists and process researchers.

In this group process study of two children's verbal psychotherapy groups in an outpatient clinic, group roles were examined through the development and application of a novel dramaturgical coding instrument and the use of trained raters to analyze videotaped scenes of interaction. Exploratory data analysis was conducted that compared individual members within groups, group-level data between groups, and members who showed clinical change with those who did not. The results suggest the potential utility, for researchers and therapists, of applying dramaturgical roles to group process.