Finding the heart of medical family therapy: A content analysis of medical family therapy casebook articles.

Abstract

In an effort to identify the essential ingredients of medical family therapy, a content analysis of 15 peer-reviewed case studies in medical family therapy was conducted. The case studies were published from 1996 to 2007 in Families, Systems, & Health. Through a qualitative content analysis, three main themes emerged that describe the essence of the practice of medical family therapy: (1) The patient's multisystemic experience of disease, (2) treatment is about caring, not just caregiving, and (3) elevating the patient as collaborator in the care team.

Medical Family Therapy: A Theoretical and Empirical Review

“…This could explain why this section of the journal appears to change names from ''Medical Family Therapy Casebook,'' to ''Casebook'' (Berkley 2000;Fogarty 2001;Riccelli 2003;Souza 2002) and then to ''Family Therapy Casebook'' (Edwards and Turnage 2003) throughout the years. While lack of consistency with titling may seem insignificant to some, it reflected a symptom of either uncertainty surrounding the definition and practice of MedFT (Bischoff et al 2011;Linville et al 2007) or its adoption as part of the collaborative care movement.…”

“…What was revealed through their work was that not all casebook articles were using the same language (i.e., lexicon) to describe MedFT and over time articles appeared to be written more about the act of collaboration rather than the practice of MedFT. Bischoff et al (2011) noted that ''…it would be more appropriate to label what is reflected in the Casebooks as ''collaborative care' ' (p. 195). This could explain why this section of the journal appears to change names from ''Medical Family Therapy Casebook,'' to ''Casebook'' (Berkley 2000;Fogarty 2001;Riccelli 2003;Souza 2002) and then to ''Family Therapy Casebook'' (Edwards and Turnage 2003) throughout the years.…”

“…MedFT Casebook authors also addressed navigating cultural differences in establishing care (Schirmer and Le 2002), supporting the doctor-patient relationship (Knishkowy and Herman 1998;Radomsky 1996), and facilitating the act of collaboration (Leahy et al 1994;Prest et al 1996;Ruddy et al 1994). A recent review of these casebook articles was conducted by Bischoff et al (2011). What was revealed through their work was that not all casebook articles were using the same language (i.e., lexicon) to describe MedFT and over time articles appeared to be written more about the act of collaboration rather than the practice of MedFT.…”

Medical Family Therapists in Action: Embracing Multiple Roles

“…To paint a collective picture of MedFT, Bischoff et al. () used content analysis to examine fifteen casebook articles representing different illnesses and settings. They identified three practice themes such as, “treatment is about caring, not just care giving,” (p. 188), named several core techniques like, “reflective practitioner” (p.188), and identified a continued need for literature to address specific roles and tasks of MFT/MedFTs.…”

“…Arriving at a cohesive and standardized image is necessary so that health professionals and administrators understand their unique contribution to the medical setting (Blount, ; Tyndall et al., ). The roles and tasks involved in the practice of MedFT need continued clarification as successful implementation depends on well‐defined roles and the training needs they suggest (Bischoff, Springer, Felix, & Hollist, ; McDaniel et al., ; Trudeau‐Hern, Mendenhall, & Wong, ; Tyndall, Hodgson, Lamson, White, & Knight, ).…”