Counseling Process and Outcome

In the article, the author presents his own interpretation of Pierre Bourdieu's concept of social field research. At the beginning, he introduces the general field theory and then presents the counselling practice as a manifestation of the counselling field operation. Subsequently, he presents methodological aspects of the field's effects examination, makes the conceptualization of the main analytical categories and at the same time observable social phenomena, in particular doxa, illusio, generative structures of field's divisions and classifications or counseling game stakes. In summary, he draws attention to the potential and limitations of field theory.

“As we know, well-led groups provide many member benefits: feelings of universality, a sense of hope, altruism, acquisition of knowledge and skills, and mutual support...This text is affordable, easy to use, and very suitable for providing group work material in BSW or MSW practice courses.”

— Greg Tully, West Chester University



AN EXPERIENTIAL APPROACH TO GROUP WORK
Second Edition

Rich Furman, University of Washington, Tacoma
Kimberly Bender, University of Denver
Diana Rowan, University of North Carolina, Charlotte

An Experiential Approach to Group Work is not your typical group work text! Using dozens of exercises that build practice-tested skills, the authors' approach is in perfect step with CSWE's competence-based education requirements. The book is organized into three sections—the first addresses stages of group practice, the second looks at major types of groups, and the final section looks at examples of group work practice with special populations.

Features of the Second Edition

    Expanded! Discussion of the theory of group process and dynamics
    New! Content regarding Canadian, British, and Australian group work practices
    New! Chapters on anti-oppressive practice, group work with immigrants, and macro-practice group work
    New! Content on the use and development of technology to aid group work
    Contains customized exercises for each group work topic, designed to build the student and practitioner’s skills for use in group work sessions
    Special emphasis on how to bring individual sessions or groups to closure
    Provides examples of group work in specialized settings: conflict resolution groups within elementary schools, pregnant teens, Latinos, and HIV/AIDS clients

The article introduces discourse analysis as a fruitful approach to psychotherapy change-process research. Extracts are presented from a successfully resolved, client-specified, problematic theme that was selected from a successful 8-session psychodynamic-interpersonal therapy of a female client presenting with a major depressive episode. The study offers a heuristic demonstrating (a) how resolution of the client's problem evolved from implications raised by the client's own description of her predicament and involved the therapist's legitimation of a morally defensible account of the client's actions and (b) how cultural meanings can be brought into the consulting room as intimately personal problems. The implications of studying therapeutic change as a discursive activity comprising the use and negotiation of sociocultural meanings are discussed.

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This study is based on the analysis of narratives during counselling sessions of two clients facing the problem of stuttering. Though the two cases were quite different with regard to their demographic characteristics, but during counselling sessions, both the clients reported emotionally devastating and stressful home environment during childhood. Both the clients had reported undergoing childhood traumatic experiences of being abused and mistreated by their parents, especially by their father. The clients were clearly of the opinion that their father’s abusive behaviour infused in them a sense of acute fear, insecurity and mistrust regarding relationships. After initial few counselling sessions the clients narratives made it clear that their stuttering was more acute when they had to face their father.  These revelations suggested a strong relationship between traumatic childhood experiences /child abuse and stuttering. Parents are the key source of strength and confidence for a child. Parents are like the boat through which the child explores the vast ocean of life and develops his own personality. He/she looks towards his parents whenever he finds himself/herself in trouble perceived or real. But when the same source of strength and confidence becomes a source of fear or anxiety, it has a detrimental impact on not only the overall development of personality but also on the other cognitive capabilities including the fluency of speech.
The earlier studies in the field have primarily focused on the role of genetic factors in the aetiology of stuttering. On the basis of the analysis of narratives of the clients, we strongly believe that it will be misleading to lay overemphasis on genetic factors and to undermine the role of early childhood traumatic experiences in the aetiology of stuttering. Since chronic stress has been found to have a detrimental effect on various cognitive abilities, including the processing of speech and language, it has been argued that stress generated by early childhood traumatic experiences plays a key role in aetiology of stuttering. The effectiveness of CBT in significantly minimizing the problem of stuttering is indicative of the role of psychological factors.

Therapy can be confusing: two people converse in a private room, one in distress, the other described as a helpful expert. At least one of the two is likely to express thoughts and feelings usually kept secret. In other circumstances, the exchange of such intimacies may herald a more physical relationship. For therapists, however, the professional relationship explicitly precludes such contact. The BACP Ethical Framework for Good Practice in Counselling and Psychotherapy,1 for example, requires that practitioners must not abuse their client’s trust in order to gain sexual, emotional, financial, or any other kind of personal advantage. Sexual relations with clients are prohibited, along with sexualised behaviour.

While psychotherapists and counsellors generally acknowledge that sexual attraction is a common and often ordinary human response to another, they also recognise that acting on such feelings in therapy will quickly become problematic. The early psychoanalytic community had to confront and respond to such instances as Jung’s relationship with Sabina Spielrein.2 Rosie Alexander’s3 description of the times she sat on her therapist’s knee and felt his erection, elicits a mixture of emotions in the reader, not least shock, and the narrative is saturated with a sense of betrayal.

There have been several types of research investigating boundary breaches and sexual boundary violations.4 In spite of these, however, there is little certainty about how common sexual boundary violations are, as the sources of information about them (confession, client reporting, complaints to organisations, and knowledge of colleagues’ conduct) are all vulnerable to error. Further studies have attempted to identify characteristics of transgressing therapists and the factors that contribute to such events (see Moggi et al5 for an example), and to understand the effects on clients who have experienced therapist-client sex.6 If sexual feelings are ubiquitous and sexual attraction a real possibility in the context of the therapy relationship, how are these managed in therapy? Complaints about sexual boundary violations form a small proportion of complaints about therapists and health professionals.4, 7, 8 Is it the prospect of opprobrium from colleagues or the threat of sanctions from regulatory agencies that contains the relationship within professional boundaries? Do reported violations represent only a small proportion of actual sexual boundary violations? .......

Aim: To identify therapists’ views on sexual boundaries and the strategies they employ to manage them in therapeutic practice. Method: In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with a sample of 13 accredited, experienced practitioners of psychotherapy or counselling. A grounded theory approach, informed by principles from Free Association Narrative methodology, was employed, in which team members used debriefing sessions for extending depth of understanding of the interviews. Findings: There is consensus about boundaries at the extremes, but variability about fantasy, flirtation and touch. A core process was generated from accounts of successful management of sexual attraction. We identified four problematic ways of reacting to boundary pressure, each with potential to harm clients and therapy. Discussion: A participant-observer stance was conceptualised as essential for managing threats to boundaries, consistent with the empathic stance. Minor boundary crossings were viewed by interviewees as both potential precursors of more serious transgressions, and as opportunities for understanding the client's difficulties. Implications for practice: These span training, accrediting organisations, supervision and therapy practice.

Many counselling techniques exist to help people gain awareness, insight and explore ways of solving their problems.  These communication skills, also known as counselling tools, can be very effective if a skilled counsellor knows how and when to apply them. 

Timing when using counselling tools is important as is the counsellor’s self-awareness as they must be able to know how their client affects them and vice versa. McLeod (2007) explains apart from counselling techniques, to be effective a counsellor must use their own self-awareness of feelings and thoughts that arise in a session of which can be used to make an informed response.

In this essay I play the role of counsellor for a client who presents a problem at work  allowing me to apply a number of these counselling tools to effectively help her gain awareness, clarify the problem, gain insight and consider future steps to resolve the issue.  These skills were observed by me watching a video playback of the session.

A reference work for specialists in student counselling and for those who employ counsellors in mental health services. It provides an analysis of research in this area and provides useful information on the extent and severity of student mental health problems and the effectiveness of counselling and psychotherapy across the student population. This is the first publication to systematically identify, assess and review research in this area.

This paper provides a worked exemplar of psychotherapy research using the approach of conversation analysis inspired discourse analysis (CA/DA), sometimes known as discursive psychology (Edwards & Potter, 1992; Potter, 2003; Potter & Wetherell, 1987). The aim of the paper is to explore the potential usefulness of discursive analysis for qualitative psychotherapy research within a relational centred ethos. The paper presents an analysis of extracts from a case of psychodynamic-interpersonal psychotherapy based on Hobson’s (1985) conversational model. This model has a particular relational focus in assuming clients’ problems arise from relationship disturbances and that the therapeutic encounter is a vehicle for the manifestation, exploration, and modification of such problems. The model is conversational in that intervention consists of therapists’ use of strategies such as negotiation, metaphor, and development of a ‘common feeling language’...

The aim of this article is to present a succinct review and evaluation of the main areas of contention in the false memory debate and, from this basis, to suggest ways in which the best from both sides can be utilized. We examine the potential pitfalls of therapy in terms of the fallibility and suggestibility of autobiographical memory and therapists and therapeutic techniques as the architects of false memories. We then evaluate the case for false memory formation examining if some researchers hold misconceived views of psychotherapy, if experimental studies lack ecological validity, and the effect of trauma on memory. Finally, we explore how the potential pitfalls of therapy can be avoided in practice, reflecting on the usefulness of British Psychological Society guidelines, how clinicians can implement research findings, and how research on the false memory debate can be improved. We conclude that the way forward is researcher–clinician collaboration in the development of ecologically valid research paradigms.

The recent trend in Evidence Based Treatment (EBT) has made counselling more prescriptive about what treatments should and should not be offered to whom. Although evidence suggests that EBT does not necessarily improve treatment effectiveness or client outcomes, it is assumed that evidence-based counselling models and techniques have intrinsic potency, and are more effective than other models in the treatment of certain disorders. The assumption is largely derived from the success of the Medical Model. A number of studies have found that there is little variation in outcomes between models of counselling including EBT. Research suggests that what is important is not what distinguishes one model from another, but rather the commonalities between them. This paper examines the common factors that have been found to have a more positive impact on counselling outcomes than selecting prescribed evidence based treatment approaches. These factors do not constitute an alternative modality but rather highlight potent ingredients
common to all modalities. Being aware of what these factors are and integrating them into practice has the potential for improving outcomes.

There is a pressing need to enhance the availability and quality of mental health services provided to persons from historically disadvantaged racial and ethnic groups. Many previous authors have advocated that traditional mental health treatments be modified to better match clients' cultural contexts. Numerous studies evaluating culturally adapted interventions have appeared, and the present study used meta-analytic methodology to summarize these data. Across 76 studies the resulting random effects weighted average effect size was d = .45, indicating a moderately strong benefit of culturally adapted interventions. Results also indicated that interventions targeted to a specific cultural group were four times more effective than interventions provided to groups consisting of clients from a variety of cultural backgrounds. Recommendations are provided for improving the study of outcomes associated with mental health interventions adapted to the cultural context of the client.

Research into the use of transitional objects (Winnicott, 1971) by adult clients in psychotherapy has given little attention to the question of how a transitional object (TO) works. This question is addressed through the use of a semi-structured interview. Data was collected on the clinical practice and theoretical understanding of TO emergence and use of three psychodynamic-interpersonal (PI) and three Gestalt psychotherapists. A grounded theory analysis suggests that a TO works by a process of embodiment which can be structured with reference to a four-level model consisting of physical, process, contextual and conceptual levels. Therapists of both orientations emphasized the TO as a focus of intersubjectivity within the therapeutic relationship. Differences between the PI and Gestalt therapists are also examined. The clinical implications of this four-level model of embodiment for the use of TOs in psychotherapy are explored, together with suggestions for further research.

Background: Research evidence on unprofessional relationships across the caring professionsc onsiders a range of activities and definitions (Halter, Brown & Stone, 2007). The evidence on sexual boundary violations (SBVs) in psychological therapy is sparse, but suggests that SBVs are under-reported; there is also a small but significant component of complaints. Conversely an increasing literature exploring client experience of SBV suggests that the effects are profound (Ben-Ari & Somer, 2004; Somer & Nachmanil, 2005). The prevalence literature is primarily quantitative, often using survey methodology. Conclusions have limited accuracy; there are issues raised, for example, when considering recruitment and sample characteristics, response rates, and questionsand definitions used. Some studies identified general characteristics associated with SBVs, including middle age, being male, working alone and outside the public sector; more recent literature, however, has been critical of the notion of the 'bad apple'. Halter, Brown and Stone (2007) conclude that provision of information is insufficient; evidence for the effect of recent innovations in training is promising, but evaluation of these is necessarily limited. It is unlikely, however, that UK accredited practitioners are ignorant of the code of ethics to which they have signed up; other reasons are more likely to play a part in sexual boundary violations.

Research Aims and Questions: The aims of the current research were to (1) Identify the indicators that signal potential or actual sexual boundaryviolations by healthcare providers who are relevant to the remit of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy; (2) Explore how practitioners manage these in their therapy work and the effects of such management strategies; (3) Make detailed recommendations to minimise risk of sexual boundaryviolations by such healthcare providers.

Methodology: Thirteen practitioners were interviewed about their experiences of managing the risk of sexual boundary violations. Inclusion criteria were: accreditation as a counsellor or psychotherapist within specified counselling or psychotherapy organisations; a preparedness to confirm that he or she had not committed, or been subject to an investigation concerning, a sexual boundary violation; extensive experience of clinical work since qualifying, some of this being outside the NHS. To maximise the potential variety in participants and accounts, participation was invited through advertising and electronic distribution lists. The sample was completed through purposive sampling; to ensure that the sample varied sufficiently in terms of sex, disclosed hetero or homo-sexual orientation, age, cultural background, experience and time since qualified, working environments, therapy models, registering body and geographical location, four participants were identified through personal and professional contacts. The sample therefore included individuals from both higher and lower risk categories. Semi-structured interviews were used to elicit therapist experiences. The focus was on gaining detailed accounts of boundary breaches and potential SBVs, on reactions,choices and strategies adopted by practitioners, and opinions and judgements. Data were analysed thematically (Miles & Huberman, 1994; Braun & Clarke, 2000), each interview analysed initially by pairs consisting of an academic and a clinician. Principles of Free Association Narrative (Hollway & Jefferson, 2000) were employed when extending the analysis beyond the participan's opinions and explicit themes, using the interviewer's experience to understand the complexities of the constructed account.

Findings: Participants described SBV as one extreme on a continuum of boundary breaches; many accounts focussed on recognition and management of small breaches. Experiences of sexual attraction originating from client and therapist were seen as ubiquitous and unavoidable, and occurred without reference to sex of therapist and client, or sexual orientation; the management of the experience was seen as critical in determining whether a serious breach had taken place. Definitions of breaches and boundary violations varied, especially in views on touch. The key factor identified in definitions of boundary breaches concerned motive, i.e. whether the practitioner was acting in their own interests rather than for the client's benefit. For some, boundaries and their management, including sexual boundaries, were integral to therapeutic work. Elements of the steps involved in the therapeutic management of boundaries were developed into a process model created through analysis of what seemed to work positively for therapists and clients. The model articulates the following process: (1) noting; (2) facing up to it personally; (3) reflecting; (4) processing; (5) formulating; (6) working for therapeutic benefit. This model represents an ideal; therapists viewed the process as an ongoing struggle. Practitioners described a tension between engagement and sense making; we came to view this as a participant/observerstance, with similarities to Celenza's (1995) definition of empathy. Some accounts of managing boundaries were deemed problematic, even though they were not descriptions of sexual boundary violations, by participant or research team; for example, the strategies adopted for managing pressure on therapeutic boundaries sometimes resulted in distress to clients and difficulties with therapeutic work. These were grouped into a typology of four categories: self-protective/defensive; moralising/omnipotent; neediness/over-identification, and over-protective anxiety. A feature of all examples was a difficulty in maintaining a constructive balance between participation and observation. Supervision was seen as the primary source of support for successfully managing boundaries; we focussed on experiences of supervision and views of its functions. Supervisors were expected to focus on client benefit, manage the supervisory relationship, facilitate understanding, and an ethical and therapeutic stance. These mirror the practitioner's roles, so that supervisors might support therapist work at any point. One of the major aims of supervision seemed to be the development of an internal supervisor (Casement, 1985). Additionally, supervisors were expected toprovide quality checks, monitoring the therapist's account and their own experience, speaking of difficulties, so that threats of boundary breaches could be discussed. This extended for some to a responsibility to report serious unprofessional misconduct.

Conclusions and Recommendations: These findings are not inconsistent with the literature and research on sexual boundary violation, victims and transgressors, even though participants had avoided sexual boundary violations and had experience of successfully managing boundary threats. The sample tended to favour more conservative stances towards boundary limits such as touch; this may have been a protective factor. Recommendations for practice have been framed as issues for reflection for practitioners, supervisors, employing organisations, accrediting bodies, and training organisations. These include: increasing clarity over reporting; support during investigation; training in boundary management; supervisor contracting; formulation of practitioner learning needs; for practitioners to develop and own a rationale for therapeutic boundaries and prohibitions. There are finally suggestions for future research.

There has been a push recently for counsellors to play advocacy roles for welfare of their clients, society and for their profession. Counsellors can be effective advocates as they have knowledge of dynamics of human behaviour and development. For counsellors to play effective advocacy roles, it is imperative to have knowledge and skills related to advocacy.  However, current scenario in India is not very encouraging as counselling as a profession is still in nascent stage. Training programmes in counselling in Indian universities and colleges have ignored or paid a lip service to multiculturalism and advocacy aspects of this profession. There is an immediate need to include these into curriculum and more emphasis should be given on imparting practical exposure to students.

The aim of this study was to examine how transitional objects (TOs) work from the perspective of adult clients in psychotherapy. Data were collected using a semistructured interview with 6 female clients in humanistic psychotherapy. Grounded-theory analysis of this material suggests that a TO works through a 5-phase process of ‘holding’ in which the client successively integrates 3 themes: (a) the continuity of the therapist's existence, (b) connectedness with the therapist, and (c) the development of a new sense of self. A spiral microtheory is proposed that shows how these themes interact across time and relate to the client's experience of shame. The analysis suggests a use of TOs that is broader than D. W. Winnicott's (1953) conception and includes selfobject functions (H. Kohut, 1971).

The purpose of this study is to identify possible Session 1 indicators of end-of-treatment psychotherapy outcome using the framework of three types of interactional positioning; client's self-positioning, client's positioning between narrated self and different partners, and positioning between client and therapist. Three successful cases of eight-session psychodynamic–interpersonal (PI) therapy were selected on the basis of Beck Depression Inventory scores. One unsuccessful case was also selected against which identified patterns could be tested. The successful clients were more descriptive about their problems and demonstrated active rapport building, and the therapist used positionings expressed by the client to explore the positionings developed between them during therapy. The unsuccessful case was characterized by a lack of positive self-comment, minimization of agentic self-capacity, and empathy-disrupting narrative confusions. The authors conclude that the theory of interactional positioning is useful in identifying patterns worth exploring as early indicators of success in PI therapy.

In emotionally focused couple therapy (EFT), the completion of a
blamer-softening event has been related to deeper emotional experiencing
and relationship repair. However, the characteristics of
those who are able to complete this event are unknown. The authors
examined emotion regulation at intake in relation to key change
processes in EFT. Results indicated that emotional control and emotional
self-awareness, two emotion regulation strategies, at intake
did not predict in-session emotional experiencing or the completion
of a blamer-softening event. Results also indicated that gender was
a significant predictor of emotional experiencing in the best session.
Results attest to the efficacy and generalizability of EFT.

This paper explores issues concerning personal agency in discursive psychology and discourse analysis, with a particular emphasis on agency in terms of motivational accounts of the person. Issues are discussed in relation to the efficacy, acceptability, and accessibility of discourse analytic research for the practising psychotherapist. We suggest that such an approach may raise problems in four areas. First, we argue that without explicit theorization of the subject as language user, discourse analysis may be vulnerable to the charge of determinism. Second, theorization of the subject as language user may be required to account successfully for individual consistency and continuity of identity. Third, although claiming to critique commonsense notions of subjectivity, implicit dualist assumptions facilitate a reading of discursive psychology that is compatible with a motivational model of the person. Finally, we argue that discursive psychology itself implies a particular model of the strategically motivated language user. We conclude that, although these issues require clarification, discursive psychology and discourse analysis have much to offer psychotherapy research.

Personal therapy is experienced as a mandatory requirement in many counselling and psychotherapy trainings worldwide with the view that it yields positive outcomes in terms of personal and professional developments. However, some counseling students think this is not beneficial in their training. This study therefore assessed mandatory personal therapy and its outcomes among postgraduate counseling students in selected universities in Nairobi, Kenya.

The aim of this study was to investigate multiprofessional collaboration as well as collaboration between professionals and challenging students and their parents in which the focus for these collaborations was on handling the challenging students’ academic and social behavior. A grounded theory study of collaboration between a prereferral resource team and teachers, principals, challenging students, and their parents was conducted. Qualitative interview and focus group methods were used. The findings presented a grounded theory of collaborative synchronizing in relation to challenging students around two ideal types, human resource synchronizing and human resource desynchronizing.

This chapter examines issues surrounding 'representing the Other' raised through taking a discourse analytic approach (Potter and Wetherell, 1987) to my research on psychotherapy change processes. All the material in my research was drawn from the therapies of female clients presenting with major depressive disorder. In one of these cases, the client introduced some of her problems in terms of her situation as mother and wife. In response, the therapist suggested that some of these issues seemed to be 'straight feminist stuff'. So, in exploring issues of representation, I shall also make a reflexive move and consider whether or not my research on psychotherapy too could be considered feminist...

An illustrative analysis is offered demonstrating the potential of conversation analysis for psychotherapy research. Extracts are presented from an unresolved problematic theme selected from an unsuccessful eight-session psychodynamic-interpersonal therapy of a female client presenting with a major depressive episode. The authors identify descriptive devices and communicative skills on which the client and therapist draw in the process of problem formulation. They demonstrate the way in which differing versions of the client’s problems were presented and how the client and therapist pursued differing attributional projects. Specifically, the authors examine how internal and external accounts of the client’s underlying problems were accomplished and warranted and how the therapist attempted the transformation of problems. The quality criteria pertaining to conversation analysis are indicated, the implications for therapeutic practice explored, and the relationship between the present findings and previous research discussed.

Blaming events in therapy were used as a focus for discussions with family therapists in order to examine their construal of the therapeutic process when working with families who blame. Interview transcripts were used as data which were analysed using a qualitative methodology, with a view to building a theoretical model. We present an exploratory model that allows therapists to position their therapy within a broader framework of psychological approaches. When prompted by a video-clip of blaming from the therapy setting, therapists tended to categorize current difficulties in terms of fear and control issues from past relationships and consequent underlying beliefs, and they also described the resultant negative outlook as a direct challenge to therapist idealism. Interestingly, the two themes that emerged from the interview data with the most categories and quotes were ‘unhealthy allocation of responsibility for problems’, which is arguably the main source of overt blaming, and ‘family identity and cohesion’, so often a point of contention during therapy.

The aim of this study was to further understanding of blame in systemic therapy. Five families were chosen by their therapeutic team as engaging in blaming of a kind that the therapists found difficult to work with. Couples from each of the five families participated. A video extract from therapy identified by therapists as typifying blaming within the family was used as a focus for semistructured interviews with each parent. Transcripts were analyzed according to the procedures of grounded theory. On the basis of this inductive qualitative analysis, a framework of understanding emerged from the data consisting of the core category, “dialectical understanding,” and an accompanying set of overarching themes. These themes capture the way in which participants oscillated among 13 dialecics in their discussion of blame within their family and within family therapy. The model provides a framework for analyzing the style and content of therapy conversations with a view to helping therapists facilitate therapeutic change in this difficult client group.

Family therapists' participation in therapeutic dialogue with clients is typically informed by evidence of how such dialogue is developing. In this article, we propose that conversational evidence, the kind that can be empirically analyzed using discourse analyses, be considered a contribution to widening psychotherapy's evidence base. After some preliminaries about what we mean by conversational evidence, we provide a genealogy of evalua-tive practice in psychotherapy, and examine qualitative evaluation methods for their theoretical compatibilities with social constructionist approaches to family therapy. We then move on to examine the notion of accomplishment in therapeutic dialogue given how such accomplishments can be evaluated using conversation analysis. We conclude by considering a number of research and pedagogical implications we associate with conversational evidence.

The purpose of this study is to examine housing, demographic, and economic characteristics of the owners in census tracts with high residential mortgage default rates. In addition to these variables, the effect of being a minority is studied. Descriptive statistics and correlations are used to profile the characteristics of the census tracts and to determine which characteristics had statistical significance with mortgage default rate as well as minority percentage. Logistic regression is conducted to create a model describing the characteristics of the census tracts that have high rates of default. The statistical model shows that census tracts with high minority concentrations might be associated with higher rate of mortgage default; however, this could be explained by the fact that census tracts with higher minority concentrations typically have more economic disadvantages, which is the real cause of default, not their minority status per se.

There is a pressing need to enhance the availability and quality of mental health services provided to persons from historically disadvantaged racial and ethnic groups. Many previous authors have advocated that traditional mental health treatments be modified to better match clients" cultural contexts. Numerous studies evaluating culturally adapted interventions have appeared, and the present study used meta-analytic methodology to summarize these data. Across 76 studies the resulting random effects weighted average effect size was d = .45, indicating a moderately strong benefit of culturally adapted interventions. Interventions targeted to a specific cultural group were four times more effective than interventions provided to groups consisting of clients from a variety of cultural backgrounds. Interventions conducted in clients" native language (if other than English) were twice as effective as interventions conducted in English. Recommendations are provided for improving the study of outcomes associated with mental health interventions adapted to the cultural context of the client.

There are many research studies clearly indicating a positive correlation between effective parenting and a child’s overall development. However, parents particularly from lower SES (Socio Economic Status) do not have knowledge and awareness of the effective parenting practices. The challenge before us is how we can deliver this knowledge to them so that they help their children learn, grow and contribute to the society. Another issue is the lack of involvement of parents in their child’s school activities. There is an immediate requirement of sensitising parents about children’s developmental challenges and about their roles in helping children meeting these challenges. Schools, colleges and other government agencies can play a vital role in delivering this knowledge on effective parenting. Effective parenting practices can be easily imparted to parents if it is made a part of admission process in schools. Also, as a society, efforts need be made to include it as part of marriage rituals.

Rubrics, commonly used in classroom assessment, can be beneficial in assessing the performance of counseling outreach and presentation skills. A rubric to assess how well graduate students in counseling learned and demonstrated outreach presentation skills was developed. The development of the rubric is described, along with results of the evaluation of the rubric. Suggestions for a variety of uses of

from Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, vol 53, pg 262, 2005
reprinted in AMERICAN JOURNAL OF CLINICAL HYPNOSIS 48 (2-3), 89, 2006
by Joseph P. Green, Ph.D.,
Arreed F. Barabasz, Ph.D.,
Deirdre Barrett, Ph.D., &
Guy Montgomery, Ph.D.
DEFINITION ONLY—THIS IS NOT THE WHOLE ARTICLE in download

There is a pressing need to enhance the availability and quality of mental health services provided to persons from historically disadvantaged racial and ethnic groups. Many previous authors have advocated that traditional mental health treatments be modified to better match clients" cultural contexts. Numerous studies evaluating culturally adapted interventions have appeared, and the present study used meta-analytic methodology to summarize these data. Across 76 studies the resulting random effects weighted average effect size was d = .45, indicating a moderately strong benefit of culturally adapted interventions. Interventions targeted to a specific cultural group were four times more effective than interventions provided to groups consisting of clients from a variety of cultural backgrounds. Interventions conducted in clients" native language (if other than English) were twice as effective as interventions conducted in English. Recommendations are provided for improving the study of outcomes associated with mental health interventions adapted to the cultural context of the client.

Catamnestic data are desirable not only from the point of view of research, but also from the point of view of practice: counsellors and therapists usually do not see their clients after the end of therapy, unless the client returns for treatment. However, feedback on the outcome of the therapeutic work and on the therapeutic process for a longer period of time after the end of the treatment can be very interesting, especially for therapists, in order to obtain information about their work and the well-being of their clients.
The empirical results of the study presented here show that the "Bonn Questionnaire for Therapy and Counselling" is suitable for portraying the outcome and various factors of the process of a therapy or counselling in a differentiating manner. The questionnaire offers clients the opportunity to retrospectively assess their therapeutic treatment and to evaluate the therapeutic procedure.

Zum Thema der Untersuchung:

Nicht nur aus Sicht der Forschung, sondern auch aus Sicht der Praxis sind katamnestische Daten erwünscht: Berater und Therapeuten sehen ihre Klienten nach Abschluss der Therapie üblicherweise nicht mehr, es sei denn, der Klient findet sich erneut zur Behandlung ein. Eine Rückmeldung über das Ergebnis der therapeutischen Arbeit und zum therapeutischen Prozess längere Zeit nach Abschluss der Behandlung kann aber gerade für die Therapeuten sehr interessant sein, um Hinweise über ihre Arbeit und das Wohlergehen der Klienten zu erhalten.
Die empirischen Ergebnisse der hier vorgestellten Untersuchung belegen, dass der "Bonner Fragebogen für Therapie und Beratung" geeignet ist, das Ergebnis und verschiedene Faktoren des Prozesses einer Therapie oder Beratung in differenzierender Weise abzubilden. Der Fragebogen bietet Klienten die Möglichkeit, rückschauend ihre therapeutische Behandlung einzuschätzen und das therapeutische Vorgehen zu bewerten.

OR theory offers the therapist a window into the “inner world” of
mental representations, how one represents, perceives and
understands their world and their relationship in it, that enables a
counsellor to explore the client’s behaviour and motivations (deepest unmet needs/longings). Such past representations seem to serve as emotional filters; colouring and shaping current intrapsychic perceptions and interpsychic relationships. Such relationsal perceptions best serve the therapeutic alliance and offer the analyst & analysands insights into what drives the couple’s relationship.