Date Awarded

1993

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

Department

Education

Advisor

Charles O. Matthews

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate three models of family therapy: Bowen Theory, Haley's Strategic Family Therapy, and the Satir Process Model. The question that was explored concerned what family therapy approaches achieve what types of engagement, dropout, completion, satisfaction with treatment, locus of control, and family functioning outcomes with what kinds of delinquent families. Further, what effect do traditional court services have on a similar sample of delinquent youths and their families.;A non-equivalent, quasi-experimental design with pre and posttest treated (n = 188) and comparison (n = 61) groups was employed. Independent variables included the treatment interventions (Bowen, Haley, Satir, and comparison group). The dependent variables included seven criterion variables of clinical engagement, clinical dropout, completion, satisfaction with treatment, locus of control, and family functioning.;The Bowen and Satir groups engaged significantly more families than the Haley group. The Satir group had fewer premature terminations than the Haley and Bowen treatment groups. There were no significant differences between the Haley and Bowen Dropout samples.;The Satir group completed with the highest number of families, followed by the comparison group, the Bowen completed sample, and the Haley treatment group.;The Rotter Internal-External Locus of Control resulted in a significant effect for Time. Thus, at the end of treatment, parents had lower mean scores, indicating a move toward being more internally directed.;The Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales resulted in some significant findings, specifically: Identified Clients' Cohesion subscale (Group effect); Mothers' Social Desirability (Group effect); Fathers' Social Desirability (Group effect); and Identified Clients' Social Desirability (Group and Time effect).;Testing indicated that families were more satisfied with the Satir Process Model than Bowen Theory.;In general, results indicated that all family members were more satisfied with the Satir Process Model therapists, than with the Bowen and Haley clinicians.;Families were dissatisfied with the some aspects of the treatment they received in particular: Bowen Theory: exclusion of the Identified Client from therapy; Strategic Family Therapy: unknown observers on the other side of mirror engendered a perception of vulnerability and lack of confidence in the therapist; Satir Process Model: the brevity of treatment within the confines of the research project. (Abstract shortened by UMI.).

DOI

https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.25774/w4-qf2g-mf76

Rights

© The Author

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