The Therapeutic Advantage to the Family Therapist of Intervening in the Family-Clinician System

Attempting family therapy in the context of a family-clinician system poses extreme difficulties for the therapist. He cannot be effective if he diagnoses only the family system. He must broaden his analysis to include other clinicians' transactions with the family. Once he accomplishes this perceptual leap, he can intervene in the family-clinician system most effectively with paradoxical methods. He may find that a change in his own contribution to the system solves the family's problem.     

The role of additional information in the compliance,satisfaction, psychological,and emotion responses of non-surgical patients with low back pain: An exploratory investigation

Abstract

Noncompliance and the psychological and emotional states of patients with low back pain are major concerns for health professionals. The current study evaluated whether amount of information available to patients enhanced compliance to a medical regimen and whether it reduced negative emotions in patients with low back pain. Forty-five orthopaedic non-surgical patients with low back pain were randomly assigned to one of three information presentation conditions: 1) Standard, 2) Pre-examination, and 3) Post-examination. Patients were also separated by compensation and noncompensation within each information group. Patients completed questionnaires at their initial visit and at their follow-up which evaluated their: levels of compliance to a prescribed treatment program, psychological, and emotional states. Results indicated that some patients benefitted from receiving additional information as the Pre-examination and Post-examination groups demonstrated superior comprehension and recall as well as higher levels of compliance to a physical therapy program. In addition, compensation patients complained of more negative psychological and emotional behaviors in comparison to noncompensation patients. Implications of the research and future research considerations were discussed.