A Solution-Focused Intervention with a Youth in a Domestic Violence Situation: Longitudinal Evidence

Abstract

This article reports on a 4-year therapeutic intervention combining in-person and email communication with a 13-year-old Greek-Cypriot teenager who witnessed and later was the victim of severe domestic violence. The intervention is based on an empowerment philosophy and solution-focused strategies, and its usefulness is evaluated by three standardized measures at five time points between the years 1999 and 2003. Pertinent cultural and ethical dynamics of the interventional context are highlighted. The intervention may have helped to produce better perpetrator-youth relations, remission of the client's depression and post-traumatic stress symptoms, and improvement in his academic performance. Implications and limitations are discussed.

Practitioner Review: The effectiveness of solution focused brief therapy with children and families: a systematic and critical evaluation of the literature from 1990–2010

“…Korman () also provides a positive case study of a SFBT intervention with a girl who was displaying psychosomatic symptoms. Georgiades' () reports the effectiveness of a 4‐year combined SFBT and empowerment philosophy intervention with a Greek‐Cypriot boy who witnessed and experienced domestic violence. The intervention was adapted to take account of Greek culture and is reported to have helped to produce remission of the young person's depressive and post‐traumatic symptoms, improved academic attainments and improved father‐son relations, though the young person was not resident with the abusing parent during the latter phases of the intervention which may have been a specifically facilitative factor in the boy's positive adjustments and improved relationship with the parent.…”

Solution Focused Brief Therapy Telemental Health Suicide Intervention

“…SFBT teletherapy is an effective method of treatment for several presenting problems: adolescents experiencing domestic violence (Georgiades, 2008 ), alcohol related problems in college students (Norman et al, 2018 ), and post-partum depression (Ondersma et al, 2007 ). Not only have the treatments been effective, but web-based SFBT chat interventions showed reliable and clinically significant change as well as similar effect sizes in pre-posttests with in-person treatment and even higher effect sizes four months later (Kramer et al, 2014 ).…”

“…Participants in a randomized study of anxiety in college-age adults showed significant decreases in symptomology of anxiety in both the in-person and online delivery of SFBT psychotherapy treatment without significant differences between delivery methods (Novella et al, 2020 ). The process of client strength identification builds and reinforces the client-therapist partnership and allows a focus on competencies that the client already possesses to achieve their goals (Georgiades, 2008 ). These conversations can be had both in-person as well as through TMH and so the therapeutic relationship is not hindered by the delivery of services through technology.…”

“…A focus for SFBT therapists is identifying the strengths and competencies that their clients already possess. Solution-focused therapy allows clients to build upon their agency by respecting their personal assets, goals, and choice of intervention (Georgiades, 2008 ). These conversations do not depend on the client and the therapist being in the same room, instead they depend on the therapist’s willingness to trust their client and allow them to lead.…”