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CONTEXTUAL ASSESSMENT OF COUPLES THERAPY: THE CLINICAL DISCOURSE Q‐SETS
Author(s) -
Kogan Steven M.,
Walters Lynda H.,
Daniels Tracey
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of marital and family therapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.868
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1752-0606
pISSN - 0194-472X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1752-0606.2002.tb00366.x
Subject(s) - operationalization , conversation , set (abstract data type) , conversation analysis , negotiation , psychology , observational study , discourse analysis , systemic functional linguistics , cognitive psychology , psychotherapist , social psychology , computer science , linguistics , epistemology , communication , sociology , mathematics , statistics , social science , philosophy , programming language
This article describes a method for creating highly contextual assessments of couples therapy interaction using concepts from Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL). According to SFL, talk in interaction serves three primary functions: to mediate social relations, to negotiate representations of reality, and to organize and structure the event as coherent. These concepts are operationalized using observational q‐methodology. The Clinical Discourse Q‐Sets (CDQS) include three separate q‐sets for use by trained observers in rating 12‐min segments of couples therapy conversation. Each q‐set captures one aspect of the communication process as defined by Systemic Functional theory. Good‐to‐high reliabilities for the q‐set profiles over various (n=16) couples therapy episodes were found. Preliminary evidence for the conceptual structure and clinical validity of the system was found.