The Narratives Which Connect…

Appendices

Appendix 1. Information sheet

INFORMATION SHEET FOR RESEARCH PARTICIPANTS

Research project: Research Study of Family Therapists’ Personal Life’s Influence on Clinical Practice

Who researcher is

My name is Per Jensen and I am working as an Associate Professor at Diakonhjemmet College in Oslo. My research project is part of my Doctorate in Systemic Psychotherapy at Tavistock Clinic/ University of East London.

Contact Telephone Number/e-mail address:

You are welcome to ask for further information on telephone number 22 45 19 87 or contact me on e-mail: [e-mail]

Purpose of study

During the 1970’s and the 1980’s, in Norwegian family therapy education, the personal therapy on offer was only 20 hours. The main idea was to give the students the experience of sitting in the client’s position and working with material from their own personal life. For some of the students this gave thin profit inside such a frame.

A lot of motions were put forward to change this part of the family therapy education program. Some meant we needed to get therapists that had a practice that was in tune with the program. Some meant the students needed to bring members of their family into the therapy room and some meant their personal therapy should get more space and hours in the program. But most students and teachers meant that this part of the program should be taken away and that the ordinary clinical supervision should cover this field. Their main argument was that personal therapy was based on psychodynamic theory and that this element in the education program contradicted and even undermined the rest of the program. The result was to take personal therapy out of the program and from the end of the 80s personal therapy has not been a part of family therapy education in Norway
My question is whether we have ”thrown out the baby with the bath water”. Most therapists will probably agree that the personal element is of importance for clinical practice. To leave this field to coincidence (and possible misuse) and to exclude it from the program can look like an important loss for the program. This can also be seen as an ethical issue both for clinical work and for the training of students.
The primary purpose of this research is to explore in depth the patterns that connect therapists own personal experiences and life with their clinical family therapy practice. Each therapist will be treated as a separate case study. Two interviews will be conducted with each therapist, punctuated by watching a video of a first family therapy session in between the interviews. At the end of all interviews I will convene a focus group of the participants following completion of the interviews.
To be a participant you must give consent to: a) two interviews, b) viewing a videotape of your family therapy practice, c) participate in one group meeting with other participants, d) publication of the material.
Official research question

The Pattern Which Connects: Looking for patterns that connect therapist’s personal lives with their clinical practice. How do we work with personal narratives in family therapy training and clinical practice: How does the therapist's own life history and personal experience influence the way he/she understands and practices systemic family therapy? What are the influences from systemic family therapy on the therapist's own life and how he/she thinks about the way he/she lives it?

Use of tape or video recording

With permission, I intend to watch a videotape of one of your family therapy sessions. Through this I hope to get access to the assumptions and expectations you refer to and how these assumptions are realised in practice. This analysis will form the basis of our second interview.

How results will be used (including publication)

My research work is part of my Doctorate in Systemic Psychotherapy at the Tavistock Clinic, that is a Doctorate Dissertation. In addition I will (probably) write an article aimed for a professional journal on the basis of my Doctorate Dissertation.

What is involved for the informant

I hope for your participation in order to illuminate thinking and experiences in family therapy practice, and in this endeavour it is important to get a rich variety of experiences and opinions that I can consider, with implications for further family therapy training.

It is very important to me to obtain a fruitful interaction with you during the research process. Therefore I will on the way bring my observations, hypotheses and reflections back to you and ask for your comments and viewpoints. At the end, before I conclude my report, I will send you a rough draft to ask for your comments and views and finally arrange a focus group where all participants can meet and discuss the research question.

As participants you will need to be interested in professional questions as exemplified above and be willing to participate with your experiences and views and share your opinions and reflections with me during the research process.

Why you have been chosen

I am writing to you because you, at first hand, were recommended by … . …. has given me some information about your ways of working, and this may in my view be valuable perspectives and experiences in my project. However, I will need to inform you about my project in more detail, about my aims and how the study could be carried out. I therefore want to invite you to a meeting in order to discuss your possible participation. I enclose a copy of my “research proposal” so you can have a look at my perspectives and my project plans so far.

Confidentiality

First, I must tell you that the data I collect is to be used in a research project and that also the other course members (3 other students) and the supervisory staff at Tavistock Clinic in London will have access to the data that I use in my analysis.

The point of some of this project is not at all to define whom is working in the right or wrong way or to point to how specific persons are working. Therefore I want the participants to be anonymous, and in my descriptions I will conceal information that may identify you. All names and places will be substituted by “given” names, and I will also avoid specific descriptions that indirectly may identify you. Examples or quotations that may imply that client cases could be identified will be correspondingly concealed. Though, I surely know that the family therapy field in Norway is limited. It may be an agreement between us that neither you nor I should talk about your participation to ‘outsiders’, but of course I want to listen to your opinions about such questions if you are interested in participating. We then have to find solutions to such issues together.

My transcriptions (in Norwegian) will be confidential and only used as material during my analysis (according to given rules). My videotapes will be locked up in a safe at Diakonhjemmet college when not in use.

Withdrawal at any stage of the research

Individual members of your group who do not wish to participate are free to stay outside the project. You may also withdraw from the project at any stage, and I will not use material that has been given so far if you do not want me to.

Further Information:

If you have further questions or other comments as to the project or your possible participation, please contact me on the telephone number or e-mail address given above.

Yours sincerely,

Per Jensen

Researcher

Diakonhjemmet September 2003