Lost in the matrix: Dialectical tensions in facilitating virtual video groups during COVID-19 pandemic

The research phenomenologically explored the experience of facilitating virtual video groups during the COVID-19 pandemic. Research questions addressed relational processes in virtual video groups, including emotional presence, interpersonal communication, and intimacy. Specifically, we asked how facilitators can intervene effectively to promote these processes in the virtual space, within the context of social distancing. Semi-structured group interviews were held with 26 female group facilitators from various professional backgrounds during the first wave of COVID-19 in Israel in May 2020. Phenomenological analysis yielded five main themes addressing dialectical tensions that operate simultaneously in the virtual space, both enabling and hindering relational processes in virtual video groups: intimacy and intrusion in the domestic space; sharp transitions from presence to absence; fragmented processing despite abundant information; sterility and clarity in group communication; and the hyper-aware self - being a participant and an observer at the same time. Moving groups into a virtual sphere challenged the traditional role of facilitators, who struggled to create a safe space in an unstable virtual setting where the boundaries between personal and professional lives were reduced. Findings also point to the potential of the domestic space to promote closeness and intimacy and suggest the virtual space requires facilitators to embrace multiplicity as a state of mind when intervening. Facilitators must work with permeable boundaries between inner and outer group spaces, accept discontinuity as a basic property of the virtual, and acknowledge the limitations caused by multiple stimuli.