A systems-oriented model for description of intensive family therapy units

Abstract

This paper is the first of two presenting the development of a model for the description of intensive family therapy. This work is carried out contextually in a national quasi-experimental multi-centre study in Sweden on treatment and follow-up results of 109 families undergoing intensive family therapy. This form of family therapy is most used within child psychiatric settings. Intensive family therapy can be described as a full-day treatment programme for families by a therapeutic team and including both family interviews and family work in a therapeutic milieu, preceded by a planning and a preparational period and often followed by a shorter or a longer period of outpatient work. In this paper the treatment ideology and supposed critical organizational elements of intensive family therapy are introduced. A theoretical model for description of intensive family therapy is presented.