Examining the potential impact of a family session in therapeutic assessment: a single-case experiment

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.