Hope: Research and Theory in Relation to Solution-Focused Practice and Training

Abstract

In this article we describe how research demonstrates that the presence of hope and the development and cultivation of hope plays an important role in the client change process. We propose that the concept of hope has significance to outcomes and that this requires enhanced awareness of hope in training and in practice of solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT). As educators and practitioners of SFBT, we have found that hope is mentioned in terms of the implicit nature of hope in SFBT literature (Dolan, 2014), but we rarely find that the essence of the idea of hope is made more explicit in teaching and practice. In this paper we address this gap by linking research findings on the concept of hope from various areas of study to both training in the practice skills and processes of SFBT. Specific focus is placed on the connections among findings in various areas of study and research on hopefulness to demonstrate the explicit means by which hopefulness is created, amplified, and utilized in enhancing a sense of possibility and personal agency during SFBT.