Treating Contemporary Families

"Linking research with clinical practice, this text shows therapists how to do evidence-based practice when treating contemporary families. Today's families are diverse and complex, and their problems do not always improve when treatment focuses on addressing a diagnosis. To achieve successful, lasting change, therapists must help families change their patterns of interaction. This book examines several common interactional challenges that contemporary families face, such as co-parenting, divorce, intimate partner violence, blending families, and loss and bereavement. For each challenge, contributors examine research regarding the concern as well as research on multiple diverse family types, and then provide clinical examples showing how to develop interventions for these family types. With its combined focus on inclusion, social justice, and evidence-based practice, this book will help clinicians work with today's diverse families in effective, culturally responsive ways"--

Contemporary Families at the Nexus of Research and Practice integrates current research with clinical theory to establish the most up-to-date, evidence-supported treatment options for unique contemporary families. Each chapter begins with a case study and genogram. A research section that explains family experiences outlined in the case study follows. Finally, a treatment section presents clinical theory and provides an evidence-supported practice. Together, each chapter demonstrates how theory gets translated into practice. Family forms discussed include families of divorce, stepfamilies, families of addiction, impoverished families, families of incarceration, families of cyberbullying, and families of murder victims. Whether you’re a professional or a student, this book will provide both relevant research findings and explicit instruction and case material to augment your practice.

The Handbook of Contemporary Families explores how families have changed in the last 30 years and speculates about future trends. Editors Marilyn Coleman and Lawrence H. Ganong, along with a multidisciplinary group of contributors, critique the approaches used to study relationships and families while suggesting modern approaches for the new millennium. The Handbook looks at how changes within the contemporary family have been reflected in family law, family education, and family therapy. The Handbook of Contemporary Families is an excellent resource for advanced undergraduate and graduate students, researchers, educators, and practitioners who study and work with families in several disciplines, including Family Science, Human Development and Family Studies, Sociology, Marriage & Family Therapy, and Social Work.

Written for researchers, practitioners, and students in advanced courses, this book furthers our understanding of the complexity of contemporary families. Seven types of families are the focus of this book, based on the research available and the challenges they present for mental health professionals. The family forms discussed are • Adoption • Foster care • Interracial families • Family members with special needs (with a focus on autism) • Families with LGBTQ members • Grandparent-headed Families • Family members with chronic medical conditions The volume establishes an innovative format that fits the new age of evidence-based practice. Each chapter is written by a collaborative team of authors consisting of researchers and practitioners. The former address the prevalence and characteristics of the family form and then present the research findings most relevant to clinical practice; the latter use this as the foundation for their portion of the chapter, in which they discuss strategies for good therapeutic intervention, representing a true integration of science and practice. Readers learn about relevant research findings regarding each family described, as well as gain explicit instruction and case material for which to augment therapeutic efforts with these populations.

"Linking research with clinical practice, this text shows therapists how to do evidence-based practice when treating contemporary families. Today's families are diverse and complex, and their problems do not always improve when treatment focuses on addressing a diagnosis. To achieve successful, lasting change, therapists must help families change their patterns of interaction. This book examines several common interactional challenges that contemporary families face, such as co-parenting, divorce, intimate partner violence, blending families, and loss and bereavement. For each challenge, contributors examine research regarding the concern as well as research on multiple diverse family types, and then provide clinical examples showing how to develop interventions for these family types. With its combined focus on inclusion, social justice, and evidence-based practice, this book will help clinicians work with today's diverse families in effective, culturally responsive ways"--

Written for researchers, practitioners, and students in advanced courses, this book furthers our understanding of the complexity of contemporary families. Seven types of families are the focus of this book, based on the research available and the challenges they present for mental health professionals. The family forms discussed are • Adoption • Foster care • Interracial families • Family members with special needs (with a focus on autism) • Families with LGBTQ members • Grandparent-headed Families • Family members with chronic medical conditions The volume establishes an innovative format that fits the new age of evidence-based practice. Each chapter is written by a collaborative team of authors consisting of researchers and practitioners. The former address the prevalence and characteristics of the family form and then present the research findings most relevant to clinical practice; the latter use this as the foundation for their portion of the chapter, in which they discuss strategies for good therapeutic intervention, representing a true integration of science and practice. Readers learn about relevant research findings regarding each family described, as well as gain explicit instruction and case material for which to augment therapeutic efforts with these populations.

Presents 48 articles on the family brought together to meet four pedagogical roles: to deconstruct the notion of a universal family over time and across culture; to reflect cutting-edge scholarship by well-known family scholars; to integrate race-ethnicity, social class, gender, and sexuality in the

The second section focuses on evaluation and treatment. In-depth chapters demonstrate how to apply the approach during the various stages of the family's developmental life cycle, covering everything from planning therapy and defining goals to performing effective diagnosis and assessment and giving feedback to clients. The book also provides a wealth of useful advice for treating problems that arise with divorce and remarriage. Throughout, special attention is given to ethical considerations in therapy, the responsibilities of both the therapist and clients, and issues of gender and ethnicity