Assessing Change in Family Functioning as a Result of Treatment: The Structural Family Systems Rating Scale (Sfsr)

Abstract

This article describes a theoretically based structural family assessment procedure designed for use in evaluating therapy outcome. The standardized procedure for eliciting family interaction consists of the administration of three family tasks. The family's interactional patterns on the tasks are evaluated along six dimensions of structural family functioning: Structure, Flexibility, Resonance, Developmental Stage, IdentifiedPatienthood, and Conflict Resolution. A manual has been developed for standardizing ratings for research applications. The measure demonstrated good interrater and internal consistency reliability. Available evidence for the content, factor, and construct validity of the measure is presented. Clinical outcome research studies conducted with the measure provide evidence that the measure is sensitive to different types of structural family intervention modalities and that it discriminates between a structural family intervention versus a no treatmentlwait list control condition as well as between a structural family intervention versus an individual psychotherapy treatment modality. Finally, the measure has been demonstrated to be nonreactive under both treatment and wait list conditions. For nearly two decades our program of research has focused on applying systems theory to what has emerged as a remarkably recalcitrant clinical problem, that is, Drs.

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“…Conflict Resolution was assessed using the conflict resolution subscale of the Structural Family Systems RatingsDementia Caregiver (SFSR-DC; Mitrani et al, 2005), an adaptation of the Structural Family Systems Ratings (SFSR; Szapocznik et al, 1991). The SFSR-DC is an observational measure that uses a standardized procedure, the Wiltwick Family Tasks (Minuchin, Rosman, & Baker, 1978), for eliciting family interaction on three activities (planning a menu, stating likes and dislikes about each other, and discussing a recent family argument).…”

Implementing Family-Centered Interventions Within the Public Middle School: Linking Service Delivery to Change in Student Problem Behavior

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Brief Strategic Family Therapy: Lessons Learned in Efficacy Research and Challenges to Blending Research and Practice

“…There are research-based strategies for engaging reluctant family members into treatment (see engagement work described in detail below), for joining with family members (Sexton & Robbins, 2005), for diagnosing and assessing family interactions (Szapocznik et al, 1991), and for restructuring family interactions that have been linked to severe adolescent behavior problems and substance abuse (Santisteban et al, 2003). Such dimensions of family functioning include family conflict, lack of support, poor communication, poor limit-setting, inadequate parental monitoring, inconsistent parenting, and parental drug use, which have been shown to impact the emergence and maintenance of adolescent behavior problems and drug use (Ary, Duncan, Duncan & Hops, 1999;Gorman-Smith, Tolan, & Henry, 2000;Lindahl & Malik, 1999;Loeber, Farrington, Stouthamer-Loeber, & Van Kammen, 1998).…”