Current research objectives | Interfaces Project Report | Families’ experiences of receiving Behavioural
Family Therapy | Article in the Psychiatric Bulletin

Current Research Objectives

An initial evaluation of the first two years of the programme was undertaken on behalf of the Partnership for Developing Quality (Campbell, 1999), with the aim being to meet the following objectives:

• To establish whether the cascade training method equipped staff with the necessary skills, knowledge and support. Also, training outcomes for the different tiers of trainees were examined.
• To record the implementation of Behavioural Family Therapy in the Trusts
• To record how families were selected to receive the intervention
• To record the responses of service users and families who have received Behavioural Family Therapy, and those who did not engage.

The results suggest that front line mental health practitioners can be taught to implement Behavioural Family Therapy in routine practice and that a cascade training design is both efficacious and efficient. Families who received the intervention reported being extremely enthusiastic about its efficacy, and the majority confirmed that they would recommend Behavioural Family Therapy to families in similar situations to themselves.

A further evaluation was then carried out with the aim of looking at the experiences of families who received Behavioural Family Therapy ( Campbell , 2000). This was done by conducting interviews with selected families, the intention being to describe the ‘lived experience’ of receiving the therapy. The results suggest that families were very satisfied with the intervention and that they attributed reduced stress, reduced carer burden, and improvements in problem solving and communication skills, to receiving Behavioural Family Therapy.

The current research objectives, continuing from the initial evaluation of the programme, will concentrate on two main areas:

1. The evaluation of the implementation of family work, quality of training, fidelity to the therapy and organisational factors, supporting or impeding implementation

This will involve collecting data from the therapists trained in Behavioural Family Therapy through the use of:

• Self-report questionnaires (background data and implementation issues)
• Ratings of samples of therapists’ skills in carrying out family work
• Observation and performance ratings of therapists on trainers training courses
• Focus groups to collect the views of those trained in family work about the impact of Behavioural Family Therapy in their organisation and implementation issues.

2. An evaluation of perceptions of families of family work and services available.

Data will be collected through the use of:

• Interviews with families who have been directly involved with family work
• Focus groups to collect the views of members of carers’ support groups about family services in general.

The key focus here is to explore the views and satisfaction of service users and carers who have received Behavioural Family Therapy and to gain a perception from families of general services within selected Trust areas within the West Midlands .

The focus groups mentioned in both strands of the current evaluation have taken place and the tape-recorded discussions are in the process of being transcribed. The transcription process is really the first part of the analysis whereby the themes and issues raised in the discussion groups are identified. The themes from each group can then be coded so that both the similarities and differences across the groups can be explored, the aim being to bring them together into a coherent framework.

In relation to first results of the research, the findings of the focus groups will be written up in September.

References

Campbell , A. (1999) Behavioural Family Therapy: A Regional Evaluation, Partnership for Developing Quality.

Campbell , A. (2000) Families Experiences of Receiving Behavioural Family Therapy: A Phenomenological Study. MA Thesis. Department of Social Policy and Social Work, School of Social Sciences. University of Birmingham.

Michelle Palmer
Assistant Psychologist (Research)

To discuss the evaluation of the programme please contact Gráinne Fadden.

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Interfaces Project report

Background
Within the Meriden Programme there was concern that the needs of children whose parents were experiencing mental health problems were being missed. The interfaces project provided an ideal opportunity to examine the extent to which modern mental health systems are responding to service users as parents and working in partnership with other agencies and groups who have a role in children’s well being and emotional development.

The report is available to download in either Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format - please choose one below.

• Interfaces Project Report (PDF format)
  1.58MB
• Interfaces Project Report (MS Word format)
  1.63MB

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Families’ experiences of receiving Behavioural Family Therapy

The article is available to download in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format.

• JPMH article (PDF format)
  77KB

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Article in the Psychiatric Bulletin

Fadden, G. Shooter, M. and Holsgrove, G. (2005) Involving Carers and Service Users in the training of Psychiatrists – Psychiatric Bulletin, 29, 270 – 274.

One of the areas we have always promoted in our programme is the involvement of carers and service users in all aspects of our training. This can range from planning the content of training, through delivering the training slots on courses to training in order to deliver therapeutic interventions or as trainers in our programme.

As part of the Partners in Care campaign, this article, which appears in the July edition of the Psychiatric Bulletin, deals specifically with the involvement of carers and service users in the training of psychiatrists. This links with the new policy from the Royal College of Psychiatrists that it is mandatory from June 2005 for psychiatrists to receive training directly from carers and service users. The article covers issues such as how the context of training can influence the ways in which carers and service users are involved, how to get started, what preparation is needed both for those delivering and receiving training, and logistical issues such as payment.

Hopefully this will be of interest to anyone involved either in the training of psychiatrists or in how to involve carers and service users in training in general.

Gráinne Fadden
Manager – The Meriden Programme

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