Aims in parent work: a brief qualitative survey. Issue 2 (4th May 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Holmes, Joshua
• Is Part Of: Journal of child psychotherapy. Volume 44:Issue 2(2018)
• Page Start: 263
• Page End: 274
• Publication Date: 2018-05-04
• Subjects: Parent work -- hierarchy of interpretation -- thematic analysis -- qualitative research; Child psychotherapy -- Periodicals; Child psychology -- Periodicals; Psychotherapy -- in infancy & childhood -- Periodicals; 618.928914
• DOI: 10.1080/0075417X.2018.1487990
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0075-417X

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Child psychotherapists' views of the treatment aims of parent work in a community Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) were explored. Parent work undertaken by the child psychotherapy team in one calendar year was analysed. The parent worker was asked to describe the primary aim of the work for each case. The resulting thematic analysis found that the main aims of parent work were: increasing empathy with the child; decreasing enmeshment; and containing anxiety. Linking with Alvarez's notion of a hierarchy of interpretative approaches, the study's findings suggest that there are parallel 'levels' of intervention in parent work, where therapists work in ways appropriate to the parent's psychological functioning.