How are aspects of identity and context talked about in family therapy
Research type
Research Study
Full title
How are aspects of identity and context talked about in family therapy? A discourse analysis.
IRAS ID
343957
Contact name
Sim Roy-Chowdhury
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Hertfordshire
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
n/a, n/a
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 2 months, 13 days
Research summary
The study aims to examine how aspects of identity and context (such as gender, culture, race, class and sexuality) are talked about in systemic family therapy sessions. Addressing aspects of difference and context is encouraged in systemic psychotherapy training and literature to allow multiple perspectives and experiences to be brought into the therapy room. However, how this occurs in practice, the ways service users respond, and whether the therapy seems to be helped or hindered as a result, is not clear. To understand this better, in the proposed study, a discourse analysis of 3-4 transcribed audio recorded family therapy sessions will be conducted. Discourse analysis involves examining language (discourse), in this case, the talk that occurs in family therapy sessions. Analysis will involve examining how aspects of identity and context are constructed in the talk between family and therapist, the rhetorical strategies used and how participants position themselves or are positioned by specific ways of talking. A brief semi-structured interview will be conducted with the family therapist after the session, aiming to explore their experience of talking about aspects of identity and context during the therapy session and to elicit their beliefs about the relevance of considering these in therapy. Families and therapists will be recruited from a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) and the data will be collected on site. Families will already be accessing therapy at this service and only families with children 16 years or older will be recruited. Interested therapists will first be secured and then asked to review their caseload and identify families that meet the recruitment criteria. Once the therapy session has been audio recorded and the interview with the therapist has been completed, participants will not be required for further involvement. Analysis of the data collected will last approximately 10 months.
REC name
London - Chelsea Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
24/PR/0856
Date of REC Opinion
2 Sep 2024
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion