Don't mind me, I'm just the parent : an investigation into the therapeutic alliance between staff and parents in a child in-patient psychiatric unit

This study is a qualitative exploration of the concept of therapeutic alliance between staff andparents in a child in-patient psychiatric unit, namely the Therapeutic Learning Centre T.L.C), at the Red Cross Children's Hospital in Cape Town. The aims of the study were to firstly, explore how parents experience the process of admission and treatment of their child to a psychiatric inpatient unit and secondly, to ascertain what factors foster or inhibit therapeutic alliance between staff and parents. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the psychologist and relevant nurses of the T.L.C and the parents of two children who had been admitted to the unit. Initial interviews were conducted shortly after admission of each child, and follow-up interviews were conducted on discharge for the first case and midway through the treatment of the second case. In addition, participant observation was employed by attending the multidisciplinary case conferences at the T.L.C. Interviews were recorded and transcribed, the data was analysed by using thematic analysis. The themes which emerged were informed by current research trends in in-patient child psychiatry. The dominant issues relevant to parental experiences are: a) the trauma inherent in living with and caring for a psychiatrically ill child and b) the ambivalent feelings that arise from admission and treatment which are often related to parents' unconscious fears of being blamed for their child's condition. This study has shown that therapeutic alliance is comprised of many variables that affect both staff and parents, and that these variables may be both unconscious and conscious. Furthermore, therapeutic alliance cannot be assessed merely by the attendance of the parents at the meetings prescribed by the unit. The study concludes with a consideration of the limitations of this research and recommendations for both future research and clinical practice are made

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Department of Psychology

Year dc:date.issued

2004

Author dc:creator

• Marks, Robyn

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• De Jager, Willem

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/7997

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/7997