Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T12:39:19.890Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Postmodern-oriented practices and patient-focused research: possibilities and hazards

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 January 2013

Rolf Sundet
Rolf Sundet*
Affiliation:
University College of Buskerud, Norway
*
Address for correspondence: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

In this article two streams of thought within family therapy, one representing a traditional research focus and the other postmodern oriented practices are brought together. A qualitative study is described that used standardised measures to monitor therapeutic practice and provide feedback on process and outcome to therapists. The opportunities and pitfalls concerning this approach are discussed and illustrated. The use of measures as conversational tools increases and expands opportunities for collaboration between children, parents and their therapists. However, in organisations these measures risk becoming tools of competition instead of conversation, which is helped when managers take responsibility for implementing and supporting a culture of feedback.

Keywords

postmodernpracticespatient-focused researchconversationalfeedback
Type
Articles
Information
Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy , Volume 33 , Issue 4 , December 2012 , pp. 299 - 308
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2013

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andersen, T. (1987). The reflecting team: Dialogue and metadialogue in clinical work. Family Process, 26, 415–428.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Andersen, T. (1993). See and hear, and be seen and heard. In: Friedman, S. (ed): The New Language of Change. New York: The Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Anderson, H. (1997). Conversation, Language and Possibilities. A Postmodern Approach to Therapy. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Anderson, H. & Gehart, D. (Eds.) (2007). Collaborative Therapy. Relationships and conversations that make a difference. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Anker, M. (2008). Personal communication. Åmot/Tønsberg, Norway.Google Scholar
Anker, M., Duncan, B. L., & Sparks, J. A. (2009). Using client feedback to improve couple therapy outcomes: A randomized clinical trial in a naturalistic setting. Journal of Counseling and Clinical Psychology, 77 (4), 693–704.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
APA Presidential Task Force on Evidence-Based Practice (2006). Evidence-based practice in psychology. American Psychologist, 61 (4), 271–285.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennett, L. (2008). Narrative methods and children: Theoretical explanations and practice issues. Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing, 21 (1), 13–23.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bruner, J. (1986). Actual Minds, Possible Worlds. Cambridge, Massachusetts and London, England: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chambless, D. L. & Crits-Cristoph, P. (2006). The treatment method. In: Norcross, J. C., Beutler, L. E. & Levant, R. F., (Eds.), (Evidence-based Practices in Mental Health. Debates and Dialogues on the Fundamental Questions. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association Press, pp. 191–200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dawes, R. M. (1994). House of Cards. Psychology and Psychotherapy Built on Myth. New York: The Free Press.Google Scholar
Duncan, B. L. (2010). On Becoming a Better Therapist. American Psychological Association: Washington DC.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duncan, B. L. & Miller, S. D. (2000). The Heroic Client. Doing Client-directed, Outcome- informed Therapy. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Duncan, B. L., Miller, S. D. & Hubble, M. A. (2007). How being bad can make you better. Developing a culture of feedback in your practice. Psychotherapy Networker. Nov/Dec. p. 26–45/57.Google Scholar
Duncan, B. L., Miller, S. D., Wampold, B. E. & Hubble, M. A. (Eds.)(2003). The Heart and Soul of Change. Second Edition. Delivering what works. (pp. 422–423). American Psychological Association: Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Finn, S. E. & Tonsager, M. E. (1992). Therapeutic effects of providing MMPI-2 test feedback to college students awaiting therapy. Psychological Assessment, 4 (3), 278–287.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Finn, S. E. & Tonsager, M. E. (1997). Information-gathering and therapeutic models of assessment: Complementary paradigms. Psychological Assessment, 9 (4), 374–385.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flaskas, C. (2002). Family Therapy Beyond Postmodernism. Practice Challenges Theory. New York: Brunner-Routledge.Google Scholar
Flaskas, C. (2010). Frameworks for practice in the systemic field: Part 1 – Continuities and transitions in family therapy knowledge. The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy, 31 (3), 232–247.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flaskas, C. (2011). Frameworks for practice in the systemic field: Part 2 – Contemporary frameworks in family therapy. The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy, 32 (2), 87–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foucault, M. (1977). Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. New York: Random House.Google Scholar
Foucault, M. (1980). Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and other Writings 1972–1977. New York: Pantheon Books.Google Scholar
Foucault, M. (1990). The History of Sexuality. Volume 1: An Introduction. New York: Vintage Books.Google Scholar
Foucault, M. (1997). Ethics. The Essential Works 1. London: Allan Lane, The Penguin Press.Google Scholar
Glaser, B. G. & Strauss, A. L. (1968). The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research. London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson.Google Scholar
Goolishian, H. & Anderson, H. (1987). Language and therapy: An evolving idea. Psychotherapy, 24, 529–537.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henggeler, S. (1999). Multisystemic therapy: An overview of clinical procedures, outcomes and policy implications. Child Psychology and Psychiatric Review, 4 (1), 2–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hill, C. E., Thompson, B. J. & Williams, E. N. (1997). A guide to conducting consensual qualitative research. The Counseling Psychologist, 25, 517–572.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hilsenroth, M. J., Peters, E. J. & Ackerman, S. J. (2004). The development of therapeutic alliance during psychological assessment: Patient and therapist perspectives across treatment. Journal of Personality Assessment, 83 (3), 332–344.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Howard, K. I., Moras, K., Brill, P. L., Martinovich, Z. & Lutz, W. (1996). Evaluation of psychotherapy: Efficacy, effectiveness, and patient progress. American Psychologist, 51, 1059–1064.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lambert, M. J. (Ed.) (2004). Bergin & Garfield's Handbook of Psychotherapy and Behaviour Change. 5th ed.New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.Google Scholar
Lambert, M. J. (2007). Presidential address: What we have learned from a decade of research aimed at improving psychotherapy outcome in routine care. Psychotherapy Research, 17, 1–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lambert, M. J. (2010). Prevention of Treatment Failure. The Use of Measuring, Monitoring, and Feedback in Clinical Practice. American Psychological Association: Washington DC.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lebow, J. (2006). Research for the Psychotherapist. From Science to Practice. New York & London: Routledge.Google Scholar
McInnes, B. (2006). Management at a crossroads: The service management challenge of implementing routine evaluation and performance management in psychological therapy and counselling services. European Journal of Psychotherapy and Counselling, 8 (2), 163–176.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, D. D., Hubble, M. A. & Duncan, B. L. (2007). Supershrinks. What's the secret of their success? Psychotherapy Networker. Nov/Dec. pp. 27–35/56.Google Scholar
Miller, S. D., Hubble, M. A., Duncan, B. L. & Wampold, B. E. (2010). Delivering what works. In: Duncan, B. L., Miller, S. D., Wampold, B. E. & Hubble, M. A. (Eds.): The Heart and Soul of Change. Second Edition. Delivering what works. (pp. 422–423). American Psychological Association: Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Norcross, J. C. (Ed.) (2002). Psychotherapy Relationships that Work: Therapist contributions and responsiveness to patients (pp. 37–69). New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
O'Connor, Davis, A. T. S., Meakes, E., Pickering, M. R. & Schuman, M. (2004). Narrative therapy using a reflecting team: An ethnographic study of therapists’ experiences. Contemporary Family Therapy, 26 (1), 23–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rennie, D. L., Phillips, J. R. & Quartaro, G. K. (1988). Grounded theory: A promising approach to conceptualization in psychology. Canadian Psychology/Psychologie Canadienne, 29, 139–150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Seikkula, J. & Arnkil, T. E. (2006): Dialogical Meetings in Social Networks. London: Karnac.Google Scholar
Sexton, T. L., Alexander, J. F. & Mease, A. L. (2004). Levels of evidence for the models and mechanisms of therapeutic change in family and couple therapy. In: Lambert, M. J. (Ed) Bergin & Garfield's Handbook of Psychotherapy and Behaviour change, Fifth edition. pp. 590–646. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.Google Scholar
Shankar, A., Cherrier, H. & Canniford, R. (2006). Consumer empowerment: a Foucauldian interpretation. European Journal of Marketing, 40 (9), 1013–1030.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shimokawa, K., Lambert, M. J. & Smart, D. W. (2010). Enhancing treatment outcome of patients at risk of treatment failure: Meta-analytic and mega-analytic review of a psychotherapy quality assurance system. Journal of consulting and clinical psychology, 78 (3), 298–311.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sundet, R. (2009a). Client directed, outcome informed therapy in an intensive family therapy unit – A study of the use of research generated knowledge in clinical practice. Department of Psychology, University of Oslo; Oslo.Google Scholar
Sundet, R. (2009b). Therapeutic collaboration and formalized feedback: Using perspectives from Vygotsky and Bakhtin to shed light on practices in a family therapy unit. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry 15 (1), 81–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sundet, R. (2011). Collaboration: Family and therapists’ perspectives of helpful therapy. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 37 (2), 236–249.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sundet, R. (2012). Therapist perspectives on the use of feedback on process and outcome: Patient focused research in practice. Canadian Psychology, 53 (2), 122–130.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sundet, R. (in press). Patient focused research supported practices in an intensive family therapy unit. Journal of Family TherapyGoogle Scholar
Tamasese, K. & Waldegrave, C. (2003). Cultural and gender accountability in the ‘just therapy’ approach. In: Waldegrave, C., Tamasese, K., Tuhaka, F. & Campbell, W. (eds) (2003). Just Therapy – A Journey. A collection of papers from the Just Therapy Team, New Zealand. Adelaide, South Australia; Dulwich Centre Publications.Google Scholar
Tharinger, D. J. & Finn, S. E. (2007). Therapeutic assessment with a child as a family intervention: A clinical and research case study. Psychology in the Schools, 44 (3).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tryon, G. S. & Winograd, G. (2011). Goal consensus and collaboration. In: Norcross, J.C. (Ed). Psychotherapy Relationships that Work. Evidence-based Responsiveness. Second edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 153–168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, M. (2007). Maps of Narrative Practice. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.Google Scholar
Young, K. & Cooper, S. (2008). Towards co-composing an evidence base: The narrative therapy re-visiting project. Journal of Systemic Therapies, 27 (1), 67–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar