Toward a psychotherapy science for all: Conducting ethical and socially just research

Much has been written in recent years regarding the integration of social justice values with psychology and psychotherapy; however, the discourse surrounding social justice perspectives related to conducting psychotherapy research is scant. Psychotherapy researchers are beholden to various professional ethical standards, laws, and policies; however, adhering to these rules and guidelines may make research ethical, but not necessarily socially or politically just. In this article, the authors build on previous work from community, feminist, positive, and multicultural psychology perspectives as well as their own experiences as psychotherapy researchers, to propose a framework for approaching psychotherapy research from an ethical and socially just position. Examples from the authors' experiences conducting psychotherapy research with incarcerated individuals, community- and school-based research with youth, and research with sexual/gender minorities are provided to illustrate theoretical principles and provide practical recommendations. Barriers to implementing such a framework to psychotherapy research, as well as strategies to manage these challenges are also discussed. In addition, the authors propose a model that can be used to develop and evaluate the social justice process and content dimensions of a research study. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).