This paper describes the origin and objectives of a method of research interviewing of the whole family, provides details of the protocol and the way it is administered, and evaluates its usefulness. The method aims to elicit family interaction in a standardized fashion using principles derived from clinical interviewing. The most difficult task is training of the interviewer: he requires both the sensitivity and skill of the expert clinician and the discipline and rigour of the careful researcher. Adherence to the principles of interviewing should be monitored appropriately during research projects. The implications of the basic approach underlying the method has led to further developments in training and research interviewing.Interviewing individuals in a fashion which yields reliable and valid data has proved a formidable task. Interviewing whole families for research purposes is even more daunting. Despite the growth of family diagnostic and therapeutic approaches in psychiatry over the past two decades, the development of research interviews with whole families has not been seriously attempted. The Family Studies Group at the Hospital for Sick Children in London took up the task of developing and evaluating such an interview in 1975. This interview, to be reported here, focused on the elicitation of family interaction. We called it the Standardized Clinical Family Interview (SCFI).As will be seen our efforts have been somewhat disappointing. Nevertheless our experience is of importance not only to researchers who might wish to explore this path further, but also to clinicians concerned with the nature of clinical interviewing. In addition, because the SCFI has itself spawned two new interview formats currently being used by the Family Studies Group for training and research, we believe the time has come to make the SCFI and our own experience of it more generally available. Kinston and P. LoaderThe purpose of a formal family interview Diagnostic assessment of the family requires the interviewer to obtain historical and current details of family life and to observe the patterns of family interaction, the 'family state' (Kinston et al., 1979). In child psychiatry, the practice of combining these within a single family interview is convenient clinically and is now widespread. For research purposes, information about family life has usually been obtained by interviews with individual members. However interviews with individual family members do not produce valid and reliable data about important aspects of interaction . Some form of conjoint family interview specifically designed and standardized so as to elicit typical family interaction is therefore necessary for a research assessment.A standardized clinical family interview to obtain an assessment of the family interactional state might be compared to the evaluation of a patient's physical state by a physician or his mental state by a psychiatrist. In common with these, it would have to be: (l) performed by a professional who (2) observes and tests or pro...

Shame is a powerful emotion associated with the exposure of any aspect of the self that we wish to keep hidden from others. In its healthy manifestation, shame guards the boundary of the self and promotes a realistic self‐appraisal of our capacities and our limitations. However, too much shame results in a sense of the self as fundamentally flawed, and can lead to lifelong problems in living. Shame originates in relationship to others, and most notably by how we are seen as children by our parents. This paper focuses on shame in the family context, the ways shame can be misused in the parent/child relationship and the effects of this on the child. Shame is put forward as an important, but neglected, consideration in child mental health and a core issue in child abuse. The implications for work with children and families are briefly discussed. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The Family Health Scale is an instrument designed to quantify the quality of family functioning from the perspective of an external clinical observer. Rating may be based on whatever information is available on the family but, ideally, should be derived from a valid standardized method of direct observation like the Family Task Interview (Kinston and Loader, 1986). Clinical judgement must be exercised in rating, and new methods to enhance its quality have been devised. The scale may be used with nonlabelled, as well as psychiatrically labelled, families. The FHS has demonstrated consistently high inter‐rater agreement, and test‐retest reliability. Evidence is also offered for its validity and specificity.

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The Family Task Interview (FTI) is a multiple task interview administered by tape recorder and designed to elicit clinically relevant family interaction. The FTI has been designed to improve on previous similar instruments and a series of studies to evaluate its validity, reliability, and acceptability have been carried out. Further psychometric and practical evaluation is necessary, but results so far suggest that the FTI is a well standardized and easily administered instrument which is useful for research where assessment of family interaction using direct observation is required.

This paper is an account of the use of a focal formulation as part of a method of brief focal family therapy. The history of the focal approach is outlined and the concept of focal hypothesis examined. The theoretical basis of the approach is discussed by considering the way meaning in a family is expressed. Two forms of meaning are described: surface action, which is the current content of interaction, and depth structure, which is its context and is based in subjective history. A case example is provided to illustrate the application of the concepts, therapeutic implications, and the basis of outcome evaluation.