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This article explores the value of applying groupwork expertise and skills in conducting focus group research. It identifies and provides an analysis of comparisons between the arenas of focus group moderation and social groupwork facilitation drawing from literature from both fields. In addition, the article discusses key skills needed by focus group moderators highlighting how these are also foundational social groupwork competencies. The article draws from the authors’ experiences of designing and facilitating focus groups with teenagers as part of a 2-year research study examining the perceptions and experiences of young people from marginalized communities in relation to accessing third-level education. In light of this analysis, the authors assert that some developments in focus group research methodology have resulted in a greater degree of alignment between these two spheres and that focus group moderation is enhanced and rendered increasingly effective when groupwork skills, knowledge, and insights are employed.

In this article we report findings from a small scale user-controlled study which explores involvement and engagement in terms of the legacy of the National Service Framework for Older People (NSFOP) and the new opportunities that are opening up around community well-being and active citizenship. A key finding of the study is that, when participating in implementation of a major policy initiative, older people's reference groups and forums require good support: practical help with administrative tasks and more professionalised support to help develop members' skills as activists and campaigners. We distill what this means for practice in a commissioning framework which can be used to specify support services that may be provided to older people's groups by external organisations such as the voluntary and community sector. Here, involvement and engagement are understood as a dynamic relationship between three stakeholder groups (older people, the statutory sector, and the voluntary and community sector). We pinpoint likely tensions in these relationships and how they might be addressed.