BASIC FAMILY THERAPY SKILLS, IV: TRANSGENERATIONAL THEORIES OF FAMILY THERAPY

• Published in: Journal of marital and family therapy 1993-07, Vol.19 (3), p.253-266
• Main Authors: Nelson, Thorana S., Heilbrun, Gabriella, Fegley, Charles R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Counseling Theories; Counselor Educators; Families & family life; Family Counseling; Psychologists; Skill Development; Therapy; Transgenerational Family Therapy
• ISSN: 0194-472X; 1752-0606
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-0606.1993.tb00986.x

This pape focuses on the basic skills and compentencies of transgenerational approaches to family therapy, the fourth report of a program of research surveys by the Basic Family Therapy Skills Project. In the first survey, a panel of family therapy educators listed the most critical or basic skills or compentencies of beginning family therapist with a transgenerational orientation. In the third survey, self‐selected respondents rated these items according to degree of importance for beginning family therapists. Rankings of the items according to mean scores of the Likert responses indicate that transgenerational family therapy skills are founded in theory and can be identified behaviorally. The most important skills are those that use the self of the therapist to understand and utilize transgenerational family therapy skills for both therapist and client. Also listed are skills that many raters deemed “generic” rather than specifically related to transgenerational family therapy. Other findings and their implications for the future training of family therapists are discusses. Although the paper is intended for family therapy educators interested in their colleagues' ideas about critical skills in trans‐generational family therapy, theorists and clinicians may also find it useful.