Understanding alliances. How can research inform user‐friendly practice?

Abstract

‘User‐friendliness’ is described as a therapist stance which involves attentiveness to the quality of the ‘therapeutic relationship’, both between therapist and family and between service providers and their public. This article draws on research published in the last seven years from within and outside the family therapy field which can help improve this relationship. I will argue that the issues which challenge user‐friendly practice need to be related to the theories which inform family therapy and to the traditional tension within the research field between focusing on measurable outcomes or on user satisfaction. The urgency for a clear analysis of what can make family therapy practice more sensitive to its public comes partly from the relative state of maturity which family therapy has now reached and its need actively to work alongside other approaches. Other crucial influences considered are a greater public demand for choice and improvements in public services, and social policy trends towards greater efficiency and accountability within the helping services.