Journal of marital and family therapy最新文献

This qualitative study explores how family therapists (n = 15) in Dhaka, Bangladesh, assist couples in navigating divorce decision-making, addressing a gap in research on divorce ideation in non-Western contexts. Thematic analysis of the interviews revealed four key themes: (1) Therapists as experts, (2) Respect for client autonomy, (3) Therapist neutrality, and (4) Clarity in the decision as the goal. Each of the themes is situated in the social context of Dhaka, the capital city, where couple therapy is a fairly new mental health practice and beliefs about marriage and divorce are culturally informed. These cultural beliefs include ideas that divorce is shameful, is not religiously sanctioned, and is harder on women. Future research could focus on the experiences of therapists or other community helpers (i.e., religious or kinship networks) in rural areas and among less-educated populations to better understand the broader landscape of divorce decision-making in Bangladesh.

Families play an influential role in promoting positive coping (PC) among youth, which has led to the development of family-based interventions, such as emotion-focused family therapy (EFFT). The present study examined trajectories of PC over 1 year following a 2-day virtual caregiver group EFFT intervention. Participants included 155 caregivers who attended the EFFT intervention. Caregivers completed measures on themselves and up to four children at six time points from pre-intervention to 12-month follow-up. Higher-order growth curve analysis modelled trajectories of PC for individuals nested within families. Participants exhibited an increase in PC over 12 months. Caregivers had higher initial PC levels than children and improved at a slower rate. Finally, participants in families with higher social support and lower family dysfunction had higher baseline PC. These variables did not predict change. Findings reveal that aspects of the family environment are related to PC, highlighting the importance of family-based interventions.

This qualitative systematic review aimed to synthesize and discuss family members' perspectives of helpful and unhelpful factors in family therapy (FT) sessions, to benefit the application of FT interventions and training. Eleven studies met eligibility criteria and were critically appraised and thematically synthesized. Four themes resulted: therapist qualities contributing to the therapeutic alliance, practitioners' use of therapeutic techniques, intervention delivery, and family engagement with the process. Helpful factors included therapist warmth, kindness, and genuine care; therapist connecting with family in a sensitive, respectful, and nonjudgmental manner; effective use of therapeutic techniques that facilitated self-reflection, emotional expression, communication, and perspective-taking; therapy sessions conducted collaboratively with active family participation; focusing on family strengths and resources; and tailoring format to family needs. Unhelpful factors included participants sharing before ready, therapist siding with a family member, therapy process not matching family needs, and insufficient progress early on. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

According to disciplinary standards, therapists offering relationship and family therapy are ethically obligated to inform their work with published knowledge about specific client factors to practice competently. Relationship and family therapy research and resources, however, generally lack flexibility in their application to relationships that aren't captured by dominant discourses of relationship composition. The challenges many therapists face in working with clients who have multiple marginalized identities are most often located within the individuals and relationships (rather than within the lack of systemic support available to inform competent practice). In response, we propose an intentionally intersectional structure a therapist could follow to systemically analyze, synthesize, and utilize currently available research toward more ethically and responsively competent practice and apply it to transgender and nonbinary clients in consensually nonmonogamous relationships.

Family-focused interventions for youth with juvenile legal system involvement place emphasis on improving caregiver wellbeing. However, there is limited work to date characterizing the prevalence and determinants of behavioral health concerns among these caregivers. The present study sought to examine among 100 caregivers of youth with juvenile legal system involvement: (a) rates of depression, anxiety, PTSD, and cannabis and alcohol use; (b) frequency of exposure to traumatic events and discrimination; and (c) the association between experiences of traumatic events and discrimination and behavioral health concerns. The results indicated a variety of behavioral health concerns were experienced by caregivers, with an alarming number of caregivers having been exposed to traumatic events and discrimination. Discrimination was most frequently associated with mental health concerns. Our findings indicated that family-based interventions targeting youth with juvenile legal system involvement should continue to focus on caregiver wellbeing and emphasize reducing the impact of experiences of discrimination.

Numerous studies have shown that mindfulness is positively associated with relationship and sexual satisfaction. However, most have examined the benefits of intrapersonal or trait mindfulness, rather than directly investigating interpersonal mindfulness or considering polyvagal theory. Our main objective was to determine the variable importance of interpersonal mindfulness and psychological safety for relationship and sexual satisfaction using random forests and regression trees and to explore the importance of demographics, social and couple-related factors, and emotional wellbeing in this analysis. 356 adults in committed romantic relationships were recruited for a self-report survey. Results suggested that mindfulness in couple relationships, psychological safety, conflict strategies, and depression symptoms were of top importance for relationship and sexual satisfaction. Limitations and future directions involving dyadic data and physiological measures were discussed. The findings will inform the development of interpersonal mindfulness- and polyvagal-based interventions aimed at promoting safety and stability in relationships while enhancing personal wellbeing.

Informed by the theoretical foundation of social exchange theory and polyvagal theory, we examined romantic, social, and psychophysiological functioning among a sample of 284 heterosexual, emerging adult romantic partners and their friends. Actor–partner interdependence model results revealed that both women and men reported greater romantic adjustment when also speaking frequently with their partner about romantic challenges. Additionally, men were found to have more favorable psychophysiological functioning, as captured by heart rate variability (HRV) during conversations with their partner, when men also spoke frequently to friends about romantic challenges. Moreover, men's HRV scores when talking to partners and to friends were more favorable if men perceived that friends' approval of their relationship was high. Clinical implications are presented, and social, romantic, and psychophysiological implications for emerging adult partners are discussed.