Home‐based Marital Therapy for Multiproblem Families*

Abstract

This paper describes a project designed to reach low‐income, multiproblem families, utilizing couples therapy in the home. By targeting a population of young couples under the age of 30 and with children no older than 7 years, the project aimed at prevention of severe family dysfunctioning and child disturbances. The major characteristics noted in the literature on multiproblem families are reviewed here, as are the treatment goals and techniques with such families. Most programs working with multiproblem families have focused primarily on the parental functioning in family therapy, and little has been reported on work with the couple in multiproblem families. The project described here used home visits by a male‐female therapist team, including frequent individual and couple sessions. Therapeutic techniques based on modeling, role playing and demonstration were emphasized. In addition, tasks which increased the individual and couple functioning of the spouses were designed and successful completion was reinforced. An attempt was made to integrate the couple into the community and to create a network of support outside of the family, including friends and community services.

Developmental Characteristics of Home-Based Counselors: A Key to Serving At-Risk Families

“…The literature also has established (Rabin, Rosenbaum, & Sens, 1982;Scannapieco, 1994;Zarski & Fluharty, 1992) that counselors providing home-based services face challenging and isolated therapeutic environments (J. F. Adams & Maynard, 2000;Banach, 1999;Cottrell, 1994;Woods, 1988). Home-based services make unique demands on the counselor working with families with tremendous needs and in highly unstructured settings, managing multiple complex systems (Cottrell, 1994;Reiter, 2000b).…”

The Central Role of the Therapeutic Bond in a Social Agency Setting

“…Successful interventions with families in distress have been achieved in special projects that were adapted to the 'measures' of such families (Aram, 1999;Rosenfeld et al, 1995;Schorr and Schorr, 1988;Sharlin and Shamai, 2000). These projects were partly based on theories from the field of family therapy and rested on assumptions concerning the special characteristics of families in distress and their problems (Benvensti and Yekel, 1986;Hines et al, 1989;McNeill et al, 1998;Rabin et al, 1982;Reimal and Schindler, 1994;Shamai et al, 2003). We can generalize by saying that successful intervention programs with families in distress are such programs that cross traditional and routine professional and bureaucratic borders.…”

A Narrative Perspective on “Doing” for Multiproblem Families

“…One common denominator of innovative approaches reported as successful is that most are based on the perceptions of helping professionals and not on the viewpoint of clients (Rabin, Rosenberg, & Sens, 1982;Schlosberg & Kagan, 1988;Hines, Richman, Maxim, & Hays, 1989;Reimel & Schindler, 1994;Rosenfeld, Schon, & Sykes, 1995). In recent years, some attention has shifted to research focused on client reports regarding correlations between treatment success and treatment variables.…”