The negotiation of meaning in family therapy for self-harm
Research type
Research Study
Full title
How does the therapist negotiate the meaning of self-harm during family therapy?
IRAS ID
132863
Contact name
Benjamin J Green
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Leeds
Research summary
Although the negotiation of new meanings is a common goal in almost all family therapy, and various approaches offer theoretical accounts of how this takes place, how this occurs in practice through the interaction between therapists and families is not well understood. Adolescent self-harm is one of the most difficult to treat presentations facing mental health professionals today, although family interventions offer a potentially effective way of responding. The present study aims to explore the meanings that are ascribed to self-harm during therapeutic conversations taking place over the course of family therapy. The objective of the study is to better understand how self-harm is constructed through the therapeutic dialogue of family members and therapists. There is a particular interest in the things which therapists do when negotiating the meaning of self-harm with the family. The study makes use of existing data from the SHIFT project (Self-Harm Intervention Family Therapy), an ongoing evaluation of the effectiveness of family therapy in reducing self-harm. Video recordings from the SHIFT population of four complete therapies will be analysed using grounded theory (Strauss and Corbin, 1990). The analysis aims to identify changes in the meaning of self-harm and investigate how these changes come about, with particular reference to therapist interventions. Following this analysis, the therapists will be shown selected sections of the therapy and interviewed regarding changes in meaning. The analysis of these interviews, and synthesis of the findings with those from the first analysis, will complete the study. It is hoped that a better understanding of the processes through which new meanings are negotiated during family therapy will allow therapists to better help families struggling with self-harm.
REC name
North East - York Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
13/NE/0304
Date of REC Opinion
10 Oct 2013
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion