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Clients’ perceptions of marriage and family therapists’ way‐of‐being: a phenomenological analysis
Author(s) -
Holyoak Derek L.,
Fife Stephen T.,
Hertlein Katherine M.
Publication year - 2021
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/jmft.12469
Subject(s) - attunement , psychology , psychotherapist , perspective (graphical) , construct (python library) , flexibility (engineering) , interpretative phenomenological analysis , family therapy , perception , qualitative research , consistency (knowledge bases) , social psychology , medicine , alternative medicine , social science , statistics , mathematics , geometry , pathology , artificial intelligence , neuroscience , sociology , computer science , programming language
Previous research highlights the influence of therapist factors on treatment outcomes. One therapist factor proposed as fundamental to the process of therapy is the therapist's way‐of‐being, a relational concept that refers to how the therapist regards a client—either as a person or object (Fife et al., [2014] Journal of Marital and Family Therapy , 40, 20–33). Although this case has been made conceptually, there is little empirical research on therapists’ way‐of‐being with clients. The primary purpose of this research is to investigate clients’ perceptions of their therapists’ way‐of‐being. Utilizing a common factors perspective, the study seeks to explore: (a) how clients experience their therapists’ way‐of‐being and (b) the influence therapists’ way‐of‐being has on clients’ engagement. Phenomenological methods were used to gain a nuanced understanding of the phenomenon. Qualitative data were collected through semi‐structured face‐to‐face interviews with clients ( N = 10) who received individual therapy from a marriage and family therapist. Results were organized into two main themes: core tenets ( attunement , congruency , and aligning with clients ) and operational tenets ( providing affirmation and validation , balancing flexibility and structure , and accomplishing goals ). Findings are used to make a case for adding the concept of way‐of‐being as an overarching construct for several well‐established therapist factors. Clinical and training implications are discussed.