Although a connection between physical health and emotional well-being has long been recognized, health caregivers have only recently begun to focus on the influence of illness or disability on attitudes and behaviors. Groups have been organized for therapeutic, supportive, or orientational purposes with general medical-surgical patients. Group work for the medically ill may serve not only to prepare members to understand and use medical technology but also to assist them in accepting change in their health status and in continuing as a functional part of the family and community. The holistic health movement lends impetus to the use of group interventions by providing evidence that the presence of an empathic support system may have beneficial effects on physiological functioning, and that information may aid ill persons to retain a perception of control over their health, thus promoting optimal physical functioning. Investigations of group work in medicine have revealed nine therapeutic factors which can help patients: information, clarification, universality, catharsis, peer support, interaction, helper therapy, modeling, and confrontation. Data from these studies suggest that the use of groups for psychosocial intervention is an effective tool in the care of the physically ill. (NRB)