An Intervention Study on Family Crisis and Communication Pattern: A Strategic Family Therapeutic Approach

Abstract

Background: Family is the primary institution that nurtures every human being to socialize. But, problems occur when this process gets disrupted and family members exhaust its resources during a catastrophe. Communication is an integral part of the family that conveys an individual's expression to one another. Strategic family therapy directly addresses the complex communication pattern and coping in a crisis. The present study attempts to manage crisis and poor communication pattern through strategic family therapy on families without children. Materials and Methods: Ten families were selected through purposive sampling method from the Institute of Psychiatry, Kolkata, following the inclusion & exclusion criteria. It was a pre-post intervention study. At first Family Communication Scale (FCS), Family Crisis Oriented Personal Evaluation Scale (F-COPES) were administered and strategic family therapy was provided as per need of the family. After therapeutic sessions, post-assessment was done in the same parameters. Descriptive statistics and Wilcoxon test were used for analysis. Result: In the post-intervention analysis, a significant change was found in communication pattern, reframing and positive appraisal in family crisis-oriented situations. Strategic family therapy equipped the families to handle maladaptive communication and crises. Conclusion: The present study demonstrated the cogency of the strategic family therapy by uplifting the communication pattern and crisis more efficiently as a family. Keywords: Family communication, family crisis, strategic intervention, family therapy