title: Examining the potential impact of a family session in therapeutic assessment: a single-case experiment.
abstract: Most clinicians concede the benefits of conceptualizing children in systemic terms. Yet, many child assessments involve parents only on a limited basis. The Therapeutic Assessment model for children and families (TA-C) emphasizes parental involvement and family-driven collaboration throughout the intervention. Child TA has shown promise as an effective brief intervention (e.g., Smith, Handler, & Nash, 2010; Tharinger et al., 2009). Family intervention sessions (Finn, 2007; Tharinger, Finn, Austin, et al., 2008) are an integral component of the child TA model in facilitating familial changes. However, TA-C research has yet to empirically examine the potential impact of a family session on treatment trajectory. This case study includes an extended presentation of the development and execution of a family session. The authors use a daily measures time-series experiment to empirically examine the clinical effectiveness of the TA-C and the hypothesis that the family session was a tipping point in the trajectory of improvement.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Tennessee Knoxville, USA.
authors.forename: Justin D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Christopher R N
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Nicholas
authors.forename: Leonard
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Handler
authors.forename: Michael R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Nash
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004521:Educational Measurement; D005196:Family Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005219:Father-Child Relations; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011368:Professional-Family Relations; D011581:Psychological Tests; D012649:Self Concept; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014495:Universities