A Mini Ethnography of the Family Therapy of Adolescent Drug Abuse:

Therapist conducted debriefing interviews

“…The need for ethnographies and the reciprocal exchange of information between families and their therapists is critical to family therapy (Newfield, Kuehl, Joanning, and Quinn, 1991). Ethnography, or client debriefing, is an effective method of gaining information about how family therapy is progressing (Kuehl, 1987).…”

“…Newfield, Kuehl, Joanning, and Quinn (1991) found that studies which document therapeutic experiences as told by the family are indispensable from a constructivist-based cybernetic orientation. Constructivism proposes that we invent or construct realities rather than discover them.…”

“…The call for a new research methodology that is consistent with the cybernetic underpinnings of family therapy has begun to emerge (Atidnson, Heath, & Chenail, 1991;Keeney & Morris, 1985;Newfield, Kuehl, Joanning & Quinn, 1991). Drawing on tiraditions rooted in anthropology and sociology, the qualitative research paradigm provides an alternative to the quantitative research paradigm for exploring social science phenomena (Cook & Reichardt, 1979;Hoshmand, 1989;Lincoln & Guba, 1985).…”

“…Research has demonstrated that addressing the recursive flow of information and mutual influence among therapeutic components can be a valuable practice (Kuehl, 1987;Newfield, Kuehl, Joanning, & Quinn, 1991). Through Interpersonal Process Recall (IPR) clinicians have employed videotapes of sessions (Kagan, 1980;Kagan, Krathwohl, & Miller, 1963) to learn client reactions to therapy and to identify therapist behaviors that clients found beneficial and those they did not find beneficial.…”

“…Through the use of ethnographic interviews clinical researchers have proposed the construction of client-based portrayals of therapy to explore the experiences of families, couples, or individuals who receive treatment (Brown, 1992;Joanning, 1989;Joanning, Newfield, & Quinn, 1987;Keoughan, 1993;Kuehl, 1987;Kuehl, Newfield, & Joanning, 1990;Lashley, 1993;Newfield, Kuehl, Joanning, & Quinn, 1991;Todd, 1989;Todd, Joanning, Enders, Mutchler, & Thomas, 1990;Ulberg, 1994;Wu, 1993 The study also indicated that therapists may be contentious themselves to therapy proceedings if they are not adaptable in the overall presentation of themselves and their interventions. Contention may be defined as a therapist who continues to present an exclusive pattern of therapy that the family cannot receive or understand.…”