A qualitative study was conducted to better understand how marriage and family therapists use homework directives in their work with couples. Eleven therapists of different marital therapy orientations were interviewed. Remarkably, all of the therapists reported using clinical homework directives in their practice with couples, including those clinicians who primarily identify themselves with psychodynamic models- -models that do not typically include homework in their constructs. Four themes emerged as to why homework is given: (a) to augment or extend the therapy session outside of therapy, (b) to help the clients focus on the therapy process between session, (c) to assess client problems or dynamics for the therapist and the client, and (d) to communicate clients' responsibility for change. Themes concerning the types of homework clients used are (a) behavioral--specific physical actions to do between sessions; (b) communication exercises; (c) writing assignments; and (d) combinations of behaviors, communication exercises, or writing assignments. Results also indicate that most of the therapists in the study subscribe to more than one model of therapy in their clinical work with couples.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UTAHS/oai:digitalcommons.usu.edu:etd-3726 |
| Date | 01 May 2000 |
| Creators | Harker, Emil F. |
| Publisher | DigitalCommons@USU |
| Source Sets | Utah State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | All Graduate Theses and Dissertations |
| Rights | Copyright for this work is held by the author. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user. For more information contact Andrew Wesolek (andrew.wesolek@usu.edu). |
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