Conversational evidence in therapeutic dialogue.
Family therapists' participation in therapeutic dialogue with clients is typically informed by evidence of how such dialogue is developing. In this article, we propose that conversational evidence, the kind that can be empirically analyzed using discourse analyses, be considered a contribution to widening psychotherapy's evidence base. After some preliminaries about what we mean by conversational evidence, we provide a genealogy of evaluative practice in psychotherapy, and examine qualitative evaluation methods for their theoretical compatibilities with social constructionist approaches to family therapy. We then move on to examine the notion of accomplishment in therapeutic dialogue given how such accomplishments can be evaluated using conversation analysis. We conclude by considering a number of research and pedagogical implications we associate with conversational evidence.
Strong
Tom
T
University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 1N4. strongt@ucalgary.ca
Busch
Robbie
R
Couture
Shari
S
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003142:Communication; D003376:Counseling / Q000379:methods*; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D005196:Family Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010819:Physician's Role; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014342:Truth Disclosure