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An Effect Of Change In Patient Status On Marital Interaction
Author(s) -
ROMAN MELVIN,
BAUMAN GERALD,
BORELLO JOSEPH,
MELTZER BETTY,
EHRENBERG DARLENE BREGMAN
Publication year - 1976
Publication title -
family process
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.011
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1545-5300
pISSN - 0014-7370
DOI - 10.1111/j.1545-5300.1976.00251.x
Subject(s) - psychology , social relation , marital status , developmental psychology , social psychology , demography , sociology , population
In the treatment of couples and families, even more so than of individuals, therapists invariably are forced to face the problem of assessment of change in the marital or family “system.” The purpose of the present study was to investigate changes in marital interaction for a special population, that is, in which one member of each married pair had been, but was no longer, a hospitalized psychiatric patient. The primary question we addressed was whether changes in marital interaction could be amply detected and whether these changes could be attributed to the particular role shift that had occurred in one spouse — from “patient” to “non‐patient.” Utilizing a technique called Interaction Testing, which the senior authors devised in 1960, we found that such alterations in marital interaction do indeed arise when one member of the couple moves out of a patient role and that our instrument is useful in elucidating the nature of such effects. In addition, it can be expected that a study of this kind will be of theoretical and methodological value in dealing with the general issues of problem‐solving interaction in couples and families. The clinical aspect of the study may also be expected to stimulate useful thinking regarding family therapy in hospital settings, patient management, and aftercare.