Outcome research in family therapy

Abstract

The family and therapyThe term family therapy can be misleading. ‘Family’ is open to many interpretations, if not attacks, because it is frequently read as implying a two-parent, heterosexual couple with two children, with the woman primarily the ‘homemaker’ and the man the ‘breadwinner’, with occasional backup from the grandparents. Such a picture would seem to marginalise or exclude other family forms, such as childless couples, single parents with children, gay or lesbian couples and unattached elderly persons. However, the reality is that family therapists treat many different forms of committed relationships and friendships. As to the term therapy, it tends to imply the presence of illness or dysfunction, located in the family rather than one of its individual members, and may thus be quite unacceptable to families who often believe that it is the patient and not them whom requires help. Being at the receiving end of family therapy can have strong connotations of blame. Practitioners therefore increasingly use the term systemic therapy, which is also more informative because some of the work often involves the wider system. The systemic approach is essentially a contextual approach – seeing and treating people in context.

Economic Evaluation of Family-Based Therapies for Children and Adolescents: what do we know?

“…As family interventions have been found effective, particularly with children and adolescents (44)(45)(46), we suggest that future economic evaluations of family-therapies should include costs related to consecutive health care use over a longer time horizon. Methodological and theoretical concepts currently under development in health economics regarding the best way to account for potential spillover health benefits on families, and to validate utility measurements for the children and adolescent population, will also be key to guide the economic evaluations of family interventions for children and adolescents.…”

Integrative Practice: Presentation of an Inpatient Family Therapy Program

“…'Systemic therapy' is considered to be informative because CFT often involves wider systems, treating people in context. Therefore, a systemic approach is essentially a contextual approach (Asen, 2002). Other models within CFT may emphasize emotions, cognitions, and behavior (see Dattilio, 1998, for an overview).…”

“…Typically, clinicians choose from a variety of methods in an integrating or eclectic way according to their own personal style and theoretical references when they adjust and tailor the treatment to the specific problems and challenges for which their clients are seeking help (Asen, 2002;Pinsof, 1995).…”

Ethical and Deontological Issues in Psychiatry

“…The concept of "expressed emotion" measures the level of criticism and is a widely used construct in familial studies of schizophrenia [16]. Expressed emotions (EE) has been shown to be predictive of outcome in mental illness relapses.…”