Family Puppet Interview

At the Pittsburgh Child Guidance Center and the Family Therapy Clinic of Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, a number of expressive modalities have been utilized in work with individuals, groups and families. One technique that has been clinically rewarding in diagnosis as well as in therapy has been the Family Puppet Interview, a symbolic and interactive procedure that involves the whole family simultaneously. The value of this activity lies not only in the wealth of interactive data but in the symbolic family fantasy material that the interview generates. This paper will describe the procedure and present several case examples to illustrate its application.     

The Conjoint Family Diagnostic Interview and the Family Index of Tension

The present paper is written in response to the, as yet, unmet need for a broadly applicable, clinical rubric for assessing the psychiatric patient's situation in his family. It describes a conjoint family diagnostic interview procedure (CFDI) which enables a clinical interviewer, within a single ninety-minute, problem-focused, conjoint interview, to describe or rate the verbal and nonverbal behavior of a Ten family unit along dimensions relevant to clinical decision-making for the psychiatric patient. A rating instrument, the Family Index of Tension (FIT) will also be described. It provides a convenient format for quantifying the information obtained at the CFDI, facilitating comparisons within and across family systems. Though initially developed and protested on 350 families of hospitalized psychiatric patients, the procedure described appears applicable to all clinical situations in which families, regardless of their composition and background, are seen together with an “identified patient” for purposes of evaluation and treatment planning.     

Conducting a Multi Family Member Interview Study

Family researchers have long recognized the utility of incorporating interview data from multiple family members. Yet, relatively few contemporary scholars utilize such an approach due to methodological underdevelopment. This article contributes to family scholarship by providing a roadmap for developing and executing in‐depth interview studies that include more than one family member. Specifically, it outlines the epistemological frames that most commonly underlie this approach, illustrates thematic research questions that it best addresses, and critically reviews the best methodological practices of conducting research with this approach. The three most common approaches are addressed in depth: separate interviews with each family member, dyadic or group interviews with multiple family members, and a combined approach that uses separate and dyadic or group interviews. This article speaks to family scholars who are at the beginning stages of their research project but are unsure of the best qualitative approach to answer a given research question.     

The Friends and Family Interview: Measurement invariance across Belgium and Romania

The Friends and Family Interview (FFI; Steele & Steele, 2005 Steele, H. and Steele, M. 2005. The construct of coherence as an indicator of attachment security in middle childhood: The Friends and Family Interview, New York, NY: Guilford Press.  [Google Scholar]), a semi-structured interview assessing attachment representations, is used in the context of an international research project. In the current study, the first step in the validation process of the FFI was to check whether this instrument measures coherence in the same way across countries. Coherence in attachment narratives is a central marker of secure and organized attachment representations in childhood and adulthood. Analysis were conducted on the data from Belgian (n = 35) and Romanian (n = 43) adopted adolescents and revealed that the FFI coherence is similar across the two samples. Correlations between coherence and attachment categories were also computed, confirming the relation between both these variables. Empirical implications of these analyses on the FFI are discussed.     

The Employment Interview

In view of the continued reliance on personal interviews to select employees, the author suggests guidelines that will lead to increased validity of the interview process.     

The Consultation-Demonstration Interview

In recent years the consultation-demonstration interview, in which a family is interviewed before a workshop, has become increasingly prevalent. While this method of presenting the therapist's style of interviewing can be an exciting and valuable learning experience, it can also lead to a sense of boredom and disappointment. In some instances, the experience can be traumatic, especially for the family and the guest therapist. Common pitfalls in the organization and planning of the interview are explored, and a number of specific recommendations are made for attempting to maximize the potential in this interview process. Written to both the planner and the leader of the workshop in family therapy, this paper is based on the author's personal experience.     

A Positive and Proactive Approach to the Ethics of the First Interview

Some may view the initial interview as a mechanistic procedure complete with a list of tasks to accomplish. The primary purpose of this article is to deconstruct this perspective and encourage psychotherapists to explore the initial interview through an ethical acculturation lens. Using a case scenario, we demonstrate the need for purposeful reflection to better understand important judgments and choices psychotherapists make while conducting initial interviews. Employing a proactive approach to ethics using a “wide-angle” lens, we organize the discussion around personal, professional, and global themes. We offer practical tips to facilitate ethical excellence as psychotherapists engage in their first client contacts.     

The Unstructured Clinical Interview

In mental health, family, and community counseling settings, master's‐level counselors engage in unstructured clinical interviewing to develop diagnoses based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed., text rev.; DSM‐IV‐TR; American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Although counselors receive education about diagnosis and the DSM classification system, the majority of them are not specifically trained in clinical interviewing. This article provides information about using the unstructured clinical interview to make a DSM‐IV‐TR diagnosis for adult clients with Axis I and Axis II disorders.     

科学研究要坚持实践第一的观点--罗沛霖采访记

2004年8月25日,本刊记者有幸采访了我国著名电子科技领域专家罗沛霖老先生,目睹了这位受人尊敬的大家风范。年龄已逾9旬的罗老先生,依然精神矍铄,思维敏捷,谈吐儒雅。采访中,记者对他个人的成长经历、对科学精神的理解、对青少年给予的期望等问题十分感兴趣,聆听了罗先生的真知灼见。他所强调的科学研究要实事求是、从实践出发、理论要回到实践检验的科学态度,以及重视青少年科普工作、提高动手能力的意见,都给我们留下了难忘的印象。 记者:罗老先生,从有关资料中,我们了解到您不仅是著名的电子学家,信息与电子学科专业的带头人;也是我国电子工业部的主要技术领导人之一,是信息产业部电子科技委委员,原第四机械工业部科技委第一副主任;同时是两院资深院士,对我国电子、信息行业的科技进步作出了重要贡献。您能简略谈谈您的科学经历与贡献吗?     

Development of the Significant Other Survey: An Interview for Family Members of Substance Users

The Significant Other Survey (SOS) is a semi-structured interview designed to measure the multidimensional problems experienced by family members with a substance abusing loved one. This article describes the development of the SOS and its psychometric properties based on data obtained from significant others of 110 substance abusing adults. Interrater and test-retest reliability estimates were within acceptable ranges, adequate internal consistency was demonstrated for six of seven problem domains, and the problem domains were low to moderately correlated with each other. Issues related to future instrument development and the utility of the SOS for both family practitioners and researchers are described.