Solution focused workshops for parents : a case study of experiences and outcomes for parents and professionals

Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) has been applied in various settings in different countries for several years. Recent research suggests that a factor that appeals to the professional user is the creative application of the approach, exemplified in the wide and varied use in Educational Psychology (EP) practice. Despite this growth in the variety of applications there are limited examples of the use of SFBT with groups of parents in a context where a number of more structuralist approaches to parenting work are currently being offered by Local Authority and EP services. Applying a social constructionist approach to parenting work through a workshop model based on SFBT was therefore thought to be a useful development for practitioners who favour working within this paradigm. Drawing from the constructivist paradigm the aim of this study was to understand the experiences of parents and professionals of attending workshops that had been developed based on the principles of Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT). The research takes the form of case study in the sense that the ‘Case’ that is being studied is the workshops themselves and the process of their delivery to a group of parents. Data was gathered from co-deliverers of the workshops as well as the parents themselves through a series of semi-structured interviews and focus groups. This was analysed using thematic analysis. The findings indicated that a number of elements of the workshops were important, including: questions as to why people had been asked to attend and how they became engaged in the approach on initially attending; the importance of feeling comfortable and socially at ease; some specifics regarding the nature of the SFBT approach; the changes in thoughts and behaviour that had taken place between the start of the process up to the three month follow-up period. Each parent reported degrees of positive change and the story regarding these changes is explored, along with reflections by the researcher. The extent to which SFBT contributed to engagement and outcomes is discussed along with the future possibilities for this way of working with parents.