Single session therapy (SST) is a form of psychotherapy that has been researched and practiced internationally since the 1980s. More recently it has been widely employed from the therapeutic modality of narrative therapy - more commonly known as brief narrative single session therapy. Narrative therapy - an internationally practiced psychotherapy in its own right - operates from a blending of social constructionist and Foucauldian/poststructural theory where therapists support clients to co-construct preferred identities amidst powerful discourses which constrain this process. While the co-construction of client-preferred identity is multilayered, studies within this field have historically leaned on social constructionist explanations of how this process occurs at the expense of the Foucauldian/poststructural perspective. This study blends these two perspectives, both conceptually and methodologically, to understand how client-preferred identity co-construction occurs in brief narrative single session therapy. From the social constructionist perspective, the preferred identity that narrative therapy seeks to foreground is viewed as something that is constructed within the session between the client and therapist rather than something that is fully formed prior to the session’s start. Yet, from the Foucauldian/poststructural perspective this process also occurs within the culturally available discourses that are afforded to us. To highlight both perspectives I conducted a hybrid discourse analysis that included a macro-focused Foucauldian discourse analysis and a micro-focused element of discursive psychology, on five appointment-based sessions of brief narrative single session therapy. Immediately following the recording of each session clients and therapists filled out separate post-session questionnaires to share their impressions and experiences of these single sessions. The results of this study present rich examples of how working practitioners trained in brief narrative single session therapy support clients in the co-construction of preferred identities in the context of constraining cultural discourses. In addition, alternative discourses that supported the work of client-preferred identity co-construction based within these sessions, and found within the fields of narrative therapy and the brief therapy movement, were identified. Comments from participant post-session questionnaires offer supplementary perspectives that add greater context to the findings from my analysis of sessions. Implications for the training, practice, and study of brief narrative single session therapy are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to explore how counselling teams draw on narrative therapy during intersession break consultations in walk-in counselling. Walk-in counselling is a form of single-session therapy (SST) that allows an individual, couple, or family to meet with a counsellor on a drop-in basis. Walk-in counselling clinics are becoming increasingly popular in Canada and globally, with a particularly high number operating in Ontario. Sessions in walk-in counselling typically involve a break partway through, during which the counsellor meets with a team of colleagues for a brief consultation; this is referred to as the “intersession break”. Narrative therapy is a postmodern therapeutic approach commonly used in walk-in counselling. Data collection occurred at two Ontarian walk-in counselling clinics and involved recording and transcribing a total of six intersession break consultations. Transcripts were examined using discourse analysis as a methodological approach. My analysis process identified four conversational practices counselling teams engaged in that drew on various aspects of narrative therapy theory. These practices are as follows: (a) counsellors engaging in externalization, (b) counsellors orienting to possible alternative narratives, (c) counsellors centring the person visiting the clinic, and (d) counsellors demonstrating tentativeness. This research is most directly relevant to counsellors working in walk-in counselling clinics and agencies offering SST involving intersession breaks. For mental health practitioners interested in postmodern therapeutic approaches, it provides a detailed account of how narrative therapy is being applied within a particular context. Finally, it may be of interest to people accessing walk-in counselling services who are curious about intersession break processes.

Various community-based mental health and family agencies offer walk-in counselling services, where clients are provided with immediate access to a single session of brief therapy without appointments or referrals. Several studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of single-session therapy (SST) delivered within walk-in counselling clinics. This type of service delivery model has been found to be helpful for parents, who experience decreased hopelessness and psychological distress by increasing their confidence about their parenting. The purpose of this multiple case study was to investigate how parents perceived their parenting self-efficacy over time following a virtual single-session therapy at a children's mental health centre. Additionally, this study explored how parents perceived their overall experience utilizing this type of service delivery model. Eight mothers participated in a retrospective individual interview. Findings indicate that virtual SST provided parents with greater parental knowledge and concrete collaborative problem-solving strategies that improved parent-child interactions. Further, the emotional support received at the SST reduced parents' distress while increasing hopefulness in the parenting role. In addition, parents valued the accessibility and convenience of the virtual option. Overall, the findings of this study provide evidence that virtual SST can be beneficial for parents and can foster parental self-efficacy.

There is a pervasive belief in the United States that the college experience typically includes frequent social activities characterized by widespread alcohol use. Unfortunately, awareness of the hundreds of deaths and wide variety of other harms experienced by college students as a result of alcohol use is much less pervasive. In an effort to increase awareness of the negative impact of alcohol use on college campuses, the NIAAA commissioned a panel composed of scientists and college presidents to document alcohol-related harms and identify strategies that have been found to be effective in reducing risky alcohol use based on empirical evidence. The final report of this expert panel was released as a "Call to Action" for institutions nationwide in an effort to increase understanding of the severity and prevalence of risky alcohol use, and to provide descriptions of programs that were considered effective based on empirical evidence. Unfortunately, there were very few strategies found to be effective, and one of the effective approaches could only be implemented in specialized laboratories operated by scientists with expertise in expectancy challenge. Due to the severity and pervasiveness of the college alcohol problem and the limited number of strategies deemed effective, there is clearly a pressing need to develop and validate an expectancy challenge method that could be implemented by any institution without being limited by the need for a specialized laboratory and highly trained personnel. Achievement of these goals was the focus of the present project. To this end, an expectancy challenge curriculum designed for delivery in a college classroom was developed based on a laboratory delivered protocol previously found to be effective in reducing alcohol use among college students, and a classroom delivered curriculum previously found to be effective with high school students. The newly developed college classroom curriculum was implemented in a single session with groups of students during their regular class time in their usual classroom. Measures of alcohol use and associated harms were completed anonymously by each participant before completing the curriculum and for the month following completion of the curriculum. Analyses indicated significant reductions in alcohol consumption among males and females in comparison to students who were randomly assigned to a wait-list control condition. Unfortunately, significant reductions in alcohol-related harms were not found. The time periods for baseline and follow-up were only one month each, and that limitation in the number of opportunities to experience harms limits the likelihood of demonstrating a significant reduction in harms as well. Overall, this project represents an important advance in the development of alcohol use reduction strategies that are theory-based and effective in reducing alcohol use based on empirical evidence. In addition, the curriculum that was developed and validated in this project represents the first expectancy challenge method that can be readily implemented at any institution willing to devote one hour to reducing their students' risk for a long list of negative consequences associated with alcohol use on college campuses. Motivation and a typical classroom are all that is needed.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-27T14:20:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Lucilene Prado Silva.pdf: 1448133 bytes, checksum: e53bc21a1c0188cdc65baa61c8ea16ee (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-03-24 / Studies indicate that couples with or without conflicts have precisely the same types of problems, and that what differentiates them, are their abilities of communication and solution of problems. Although some investigators treat training and problem solving training as one module, the two types of training are quite different as to what concerns procedure and concept. Considering that many clients that look for therapeutic help only attend an single session, and that couples are more demanding concerning the speed of results, any progress obtained in the first session could contribute to treatment adherence or could even be the only chance the therapist has to promote significant changes in the couple's life. The general objective of the present project was to explore the effects of two interventions in single sessions of couple therapy, one focusing on communication and the other on problem solving. Six couples participated in the study, divided in two groups: one group receiving the communication-focused intervention (group A) and another receiving the problem solving focused intervention (group B). The results of group A suggest that it is possible, with a single session, to effectively improve the communication of the couple. However, the teaching of problem solving strategies did not result in improvement. More studies are necessary to improve the techniques. single session couple therapy, communication and problem solving training. / Estudos indicam que casais com ou sem conflitos parecem ter precisamente os mesmos conjuntos de problemas, sendo o que os diferenciam, entre outros fatores, as habilidades de comunicação e solução de problemas. Apesar de alguns investigadores tratarem o treinamento de comunicação e solução de problemas como um único módulo, os dois tipos de treino são bastante diferentes e podem ser distinguidos quanto ao procedimento e conceito. Considerando que muitos clientes que buscam ajuda terapêutica só assistem a uma única sessão, e que casais são mais exigentes quanto a rapidez dos resultados, uma intervenção que necessitasse de apenas uma sessão para produzir mudanças no relacionamento poderia contribuir para a aderência ao tratamento, ou para promover mudanças significativas na vida do casal. O objetivo geral dessa pesquisa foi explorar os efeitos de duas intervenções em sessões únicas de casal, uma com enfoque na comunicação e a outra com enfoque na solução de problemas. Participaram do estudo seis casais, divididos em dois grupos: um de enfoque na comunicação (grupo A) e outro de enfoque na solução de problemas (grupo B). Os resultados sugerem que é possível, com uma única sessão, ensinar novas estratégias ao casal para que, melhorando sua comunicação, possa enfrentar melhor os problemas. Entretanto, são necessárias mais pesquisas para melhorar as técnicas de intervenção, e ampliar o seu alcance.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of a single-session group music therapy songwriting session on grief processing in hospice clinicians. The study design was quasi-experimental. Participants were cluster randomized into a control group and a treatment group. The researcher led a 50-minute songwriting session focused on sharing and processing experiences of grief-related stress and burnout in hospice work. Grief processing was measured using a self-report survey for n=25. Overall differences between control and treatment groups were not found to be statistically significant. Significant differences were also not found in treatment score differences for type of hospice clinician or years of experience. For future research with hospice clinicians, a new measurement tool should be developed that is more specific to measuring an actual difference before and after a treatment. The current measurement tool is best used as an inventory for stress and grief levels that result from caregiving. Any new measurement tool should be kept under twenty questions. A single-session, though convenient for busy hospice clinicians, may not provide a complete treatment for grief and stress. Further research with hospice clinicians may require several treatment sessions to achieve a more complete grief processing experience.

In response to the growing awareness of the issue of accessibility to mental health services (World Health Organization, 2013), single session therapy (SST) has been implemented in various settings throughout the world. (Hoyt &Talmon, 2014b; Miller, 2008; Miller & Slive, 2004; Talmon, 2014). Although there has been much advancement in the knowledge and application of SST, an understanding of therapist-client interactional patterns that enfold in SST is extremely scarce. In this study, I investigated how therapists collaboratively improved the talk in SST turn by turn in such a way that promoted therapeutic improvement. I utilized conversation analysis (Sacks et al., 1974) to analyze a video-recording of a SST consultation within a single instrumental case study format (Stake, 2005). The findings of this study provide an interactional understanding of the collaborative practice, valued in SST literature (e.g., Campbell, 2012; Miller & Slive, 2004; Slive et al., 2008). Specifically, the therapists’ collaborative manner is exemplified in how the therapists oriented to the moment-to-moment interaction with the client within and across various interactional practices to coordinate their interaction, form and maintain the therapeutic relationship with the client, invite therapeutic change, and negotiate advice with the client. The findings of this study offer SST therapists and supervisors a potential interactional repertoire that they can utilize in their SST consultations and SST trainings. This study also presents a method of psychotherapy research that can address the research-practice gap (Strong & Gale, 2013).