The multidimensional therapeutic change within family therapy and methodological challenges relating to its identification
The aim of this study was to investigate the change that occurred in the well-being of a child and his family during their family therapy process. The child had been diagnosed with Oppositional Defiant Disorder and Asperger syndrome. The process of change in psychotherapy is often affected by both specific within-therapy factors and nontherapy factors. Hermeneutic Single Case Efficacy Design (HSCED) is a research method utilizing methods for data collection that are often familiar to clinicians which provides an opportunity to bridge the research-practice gap. In this study, we addressed the standard HSCED research questions of whether a change has occurred in the well-being of the child and his family during their family therapy process and whether this possible change was due to the family therapy. In addition, the specific within-therapy factors and nontherapy factors that may have affected this change process were addressed. In this study, the collection of data consisted of video tapes of the family therapy sessions that were conducted both at the family’s home and outside of the family’s house, background information of the family members, and quantitative measurements.