Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T14:14:11.057Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Systematic observation and clinical insight – are they compatible? An experiment in recognizing family interactions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

I. Eisler ,
G. I. Szmukler  and
C. Dare
I. Eisler*
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry and the Maudsley Hospital, London
G. I. Szmukler
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry and the Maudsley Hospital, London
C. Dare
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry and the Maudsley Hospital, London
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr I. Eisler, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Synopsis

Clinical descriptions of families are often viewed as being too subjective for systematic scientific inquiry. This study examines the extent to which independent observers can recognize statements made about family interactions. These statements were of a type which clinicians dealing with families would make and comprised observations with varying levels of inference. A special method was devised to test a number of specific hypotheses concerning the processes of clinical observation. The results show that such descriptions are recognizable as being made about a particular family even when this involves discriminating between clinically similar families. Some of the implications of these results for observational research are discussed.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 15 , Issue 1 , February 1985 , pp. 173 - 188
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1985

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Arkowitz, H., Lamke, L. K. & Filsinger, E. E. (1981). Issues of behavioural assessment: final reflections. In Assessing Marriage: New Behavioural Approaches (ed. Filsinger, E. E. and Lewis, R. A.), pp. 287–297. Sage Publications: Beverley Hills, CA.Google Scholar
Bales, R. F. (1950). Interaction Process Analysis: A Method for the Study of Small Groups. Addison-Wesley: Cambridge, Mass.Google Scholar
Boszormenyi-Nagy, I. (1972). Foreword. In Family Interaction. A Dialogue Between Family Researchers and Family Therapists (ed. Framo, J. L.), pp. ix–xi. Springer Publishing: New York.Google Scholar
Dare, C. (1985). Family therapy. In Modern Approaches to Child Psychiatry (ed. Hersov, L. and Rutter, M.). Butterworths: Oxford (in the press).Google Scholar
Epstein, N. B., Sigal, J. J. & Rakoff, V. (1972). Methodological problems in family interaction research. In Family Interaction. A Dialogue Between Family Researchers and Family Therapists (ed. Framo, J. L.), pp. 50–66. Springer Publishing: New York.Google Scholar
Framo, J. L. (ed.) (1972). Family Interaction. A Dialogue Between Family Researchers and Family Therapists. Springer Publishing: New York.Google Scholar
Glick, B. R. & Gross, S. J. (1975). Marital interaction and marital conflict: a critical evaluation of current research strategies. Journal of Marriage and The Family 37, 505–512.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haley, J. (ed.) (1971). Changing Families. Grune and Stratton: New York.Google Scholar
Haley, J. (1972). Critical overview of present status of family interaction research. In Family Interaction. A Dialogue Between Family Researchers and Family Therapists (ed. Framo, J. L.), pp. 13–49. Springer Publishing: New York.Google Scholar
Kinston, W., Loader, P. & Stratford, J. (1979). Clinical assessment of family interaction: a reliability study. Journal of Family Therapy 1, 291–312.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Landis, J. R. & Koch, G. G. (1977 a). An application of hierarchical kappa-type statistics in the assessment of majority agreement among multiple observers. Biometrics 33, 363–374.Google Scholar
Landis, J. R. & Koch, G. G. (1977 b). The measurement of observer agreement for categorical data. Biometrics 33, 159–174.Google Scholar
Minuchin, S., Rosman, B. L. & Baker, L. (1978). Psychosomatic Families. Anorexia Nervosa in Context. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, Mass.Google Scholar
Mishler, E. G. & Waxler, N. E. (1968). Interaction in Families. An Experimental Study of Family Processes and Schizophrenia. John Wiley & Sons: New York.Google Scholar
Riskin, J. & Faunce, E. E. (1972). An evaluative review of family interaction research. Family Process 11, 365–455.Google Scholar
Selvini-Palazzoli, M. (1974). Self-Starvation: From the Intrapsychic to the Transpersonal Approach to Anorexia Nervosa. Chaucer Publishing: London.Google Scholar
Strodtbeck, F. L. (1951). Husband-wife interaction over revealed difference. American Sociological Review 16, 468–473.Google Scholar