Training In Solution-focused Brief Therapy Research Articles

Solution Focused Brief Therapy Training

Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) is a therapy model that has been practiced since the 1980s. Unlike traditional therapy models, it focuses on solutions instead of problems. The basis of the application of SFBT is the solution-focused questions that have been developed for many years by the method of tacit presence. With the growing interest in SFBT in recent years, specific trainings in this area have begun to be provided. Though there are SFBT Association standards regarding the content of SFBT training, it usually takes two days training in Turkey. In this study, it is aimed to evaluate the SFBT training by investing view of counselors and counselor candidates, who participated in a SFBT training. To do this, 76 participants were asked about the educational evaluation of the Northwest Brief Therapy Training Center via the Google form, and 50 people completed to answer these questions. This study is researched by the qualitative research design, and it is preferred to collect data by open-ended questionnaire using case study method. Results are displayed on Google form and coded in response to given responses. In conclusion, for most participants, practicing in counseling under supervision is the reason to attend the training, counseling practice activities that they are most satisfied with, and they thought more counseling practice activities could be in training. It has been observed that the SFBT training has had a positive impact on some of the participants' professional and personal opinions about themselves and encourages participants to improve themselves in their fields. Lastly, participants stated that they would like to have a longer duration of SFBT training.

Is Solution-Focused Brief Therapy Evidence-Based? An Update 10 Years Later

Nearly ten years ago, Families in Society published an article (Kim, Smock, Trepper, McCollum, & Franklin, 2010) that discussed the empirical status of solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) and its progress toward being accepted as an evidence-based intervention in the United States. In the last decade, new growth of experimental design studies using SFBT with diverse populations has occurred. The current article provides an update on the evidence-base of SFBT, showing favorable results on emotional, behavioral, and interpersonal issues. Resources for practitioners on SFBT training are also included.

Enhancing the therapeutic interaction skills of staff working in acute adult inpatient psychiatric wards: Outcomes of a brief intervention education programme

Background and objective: Clinical practice in acute inpatient environments is complex and demanding for clinical staff. To facilitate service user recovery, it is essential that personnel working in these environments are competent and confident in a range of therapeutic interaction skills, which can have impact in a brief period. This paper describes an exploratory study which determined the outcomes of a brief therapeutic engagement education and training short course for staff working in adult inpatient acute wards. As far as we know this was the first time, based on evidence from earlier research involving service users that Heron’s Six Category Intervention Analysis and solution focused brief therapy (SFBT) have been combined in an education and training short course that was coproduced and delivered in partnership with service users for staff working in acute environments.Methods: The short course explored the myriad applications of the six categories of intervention initially proposed by Heron and the widespread applicability of SFBT. The programme evaluation adopted focus group methodology and examined: (1) how useful the training content was to daily practice and how relevant the skills learn were to interactions with service user residing on the ward; (2) the factors than helped enable the transference of the learning to the ward environment as well as any barriers; (3) personal learning; and (4) strengths of the learning experience and suggestions for improvement to the training and learning experience.Results: Feedback from participants reflected a high degree of skill and knowledge acquisition and enhancement. Staff found the content of the training useful and helpful to their daily practice as it aided in increasing confidence, therapeutic interventions and care-planning. Skills learnt by the trainees were considered relevant to interactions with service users residing on the ward. Factors that helped to enable encounters with service users, as well as the barriers, when transferring the learning to the ward environment were discussed and included managerial support, demand for beds, time, opportunity and staffing shortages. Regarding personal learning, staff reported feeling more able to connect with service users when employing SFBT techniques and Heron’s intervention approaches and felt that the training validated their current working practice.Conclusions: The SFBT training appears to have provided an interactional communication toolkit for healthcare professionals and could be further embraced given the right circumstances e.g. managerial support and attitude change of nursing staff in general. Further research is needed to gain an understanding of the effect of short and concentrated education and training programmes aimed at staff members working within adult acute inpatient mental healthcare settings, as well as measuring whether the activity, i.e. healthcare professional–service user interactions, is meaningful to service user outcomes.

Solution-focused work in practice

Training in solution-focused brief therapy was transformational to Bev Bailey's practice. She urges other health visitors to explore the benefits of this approach for families.

The Impact of Solution-focused Training on Professionals' Beliefs, Practices and Burnout of Child Protection Workers in Tenerife Island

This paper presents the first results of a large-scale research project on the child protection services in Tenerife, Spain. In Study 1, the professional beliefs and practices of 152 child protection workers, as measured by a Professional Beliefs and Practices Questionnaire, were correlated with their scores on the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Higher scores on a variety of deficit-based beliefs and practices were associated with higher burnout scores, while strengths-based beliefs and practices correlated negatively with burnout. In Study 2, the workers were assigned either to a control group or to an experimental group that received 30 hours of training in solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) plus 30 hours of supervision. Workers in the experimental group changed their professional practices and beliefs in a more strengths-based direction from pre-test to six-month follow-up, with large effect sizes for the SFBT training (from d = 1.42 to d = 2.07). The SFBT training also had a small but significant effect on burnout at follow-up (d = 0.48). A regression model was able to account for 83.8% of the variance in burnout scores at six-month follow-up. Neither time working in child protection nor severity of cases predicted burnout at follow-up. Burnout at follow-up was predicted by burnout at pre-test and by changes in the professional beliefs and practices of workers. Workers who changed in the direction of more strengths-based beliefs showed lower burnout scores at follow-up, whereas those who changed to more deficit-based beliefs increased their burnout. Workers who changed their professional practices in the direction of focusing more on the difficulties of service users showed increased burnout. Changing practice in the direction of becoming more collaborative, “leading families from one step behind”, and of working in a more trans-disciplinary way with team members and other colleagues predicted lower burnout.

A qualitative investigation into the effects of brief training in solution-focused therapy in a social work team

Previous research into the effectiveness of brief training in psychological therapies for non-therapist health and social services workers has found mixed results regarding transferring learning into practice. Very few published studies have assessed the impact of such training in Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT), despite such training being popular. This study explored the impact of brief SFBT training for a group of community-based social workers. A qualitative interview-based design was used, with the researcher adopting an ethnographic stance to obtain a rich, detailed and focused account of events. Six social workers working with adults with intellectual disabilities took part in the study. All had attended a 2-day workshop in SFBT 9 months previously. The interviews were transcribed and subjected to thematic analysis. Factors affecting skill transfer included being able to practise, peer and organizational support, and perceived conflicts between SFBT and work role. Whilst specific trained techniques were not consistently adopted, most workers changed the style of their interaction with clients in simple ways which they reported resulted in benefits including improved communication, collaboration, and increased feelings of control and self-efficacy for clients and workers. The findings suggest that in addition to peer and organizational support, trainees' perceptions of the fit of the training with their work role may be a key factor in determining transfer. Recommendations are made for developing training for non-therapists that focuses on helping change the style of their interactions rather than on learning to implement specific psychological therapy techniques.

A preliminary analysis of narratives on the impact of training in solution-focused therapy expressed by students having completed a 6-month training course

Solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) is a therapeutic approach utilized in a wide variety of settings. Its roots are in systemic and family therapy, and the emphasis in practice is on helping clients identify what their life will be like when they no longer have their problem, and how close they are to experiencing that situation now. The literature suggests that SFBT is at least as effective as other forms of psychotherapy. This pilot-study explored the impact of a training course in SFBT on the nurses who took part. Interviews were carried out with participants (n= 8) and narrative accounts were analysed and grouped according to emerging themes. Three major themes were perceived; Trust in clients, Positivity and Confidence, and these were supported by interconnected minor themes relating to the eclectic use of the approach, the use of language within the approach, and the application of SFBT in wider life. It is argued that training in SFBT may have a positive impact on the therapeutic and professional role of nurses, and that further studies are required to explore the impact of SFBT training on the professional and cultural identity of nurses.

What Works When Learning Solution-Focused Brief Therapy

With its growing popularity in the field, Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) training workshops are becoming more prevalent in the family therapy training field. Because SFBT represents an innovative approach to therapy, does teaching this model demand innovative ways to train its students or are the same methods used in teaching other models of family therapy sufficient? To begin to address this question, it would be important to know how trainees experience SFBT training as it currently exists. This study qualitatively examined the process that trainees experienced when learning SFBT. Fifteen individuals responded to an e-mail questionnaire, with 7 of those individuals participating in follow-up telephone interviews. In summary, being able to practice using a solution focused approach with clients and receiving supervision on those sessions from a supervisor who used a solution focused framework in giving feedback were factors identified as being most helpful in facilitating the learning process. The study also examined how the participants merged their existing beliefs about people and the therapeutic process with the assumptions inherent to SFBT. Finally, the study examined distinct moments, defined as moments after which the trainee knew that SFBT was a model they could use effectively with their clients. The distinct moments provided a picture of how the training and learning came together in practice for the participants.

Scaling in Action

[Haworth co-indexing entry note]: “Scaling in Action.” Zalter, Brenda, and Heather Fiske. Co-published simultaneously in Journal of Family Psychotherapy (The Haworth Press, Inc.) Vol. 16, No. 1/2, 2005, pp. 107-109; and: Education and Training in Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (ed: Thorana S. Nelson) The Haworth Press, Inc., 2005, pp. 107-109. Single or multiple copies of this article are available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service [1-800-HAWORTH, 9:00 a.m. 5:00 p.m. (EST). E-mail address: docdelivery@haworthpress.com].

The Listen and Describe Approach to Training in Solution-Focused Brief Therapy

Summary This training exercise introduces trainees to the basic notions of solution-focused therapy. Exercises teach trainees the art of observation and description without explanation, essential for good solution-focused therapy.