Combination of multiple-family therapy with parallel groups.

Area of Science:

• Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
• Family Therapy
• Community Mental Health

Background:

• Parallel groups for children, adolescents, and parents are a long-standing modality in community guidance centers.
• Effective therapeutic interventions have been achieved, but challenges remain in discussing patient progress with parents.

Purpose of the Study:

• To address the difficulty in communicating patient progress to parents within parallel group settings.
• To introduce and evaluate a novel therapeutic approach combining multiple-family-therapy with parallel groups.

Main Methods:

• Implementation of a multiple-family-therapy session integrated with existing parallel groups.
• The multiple-family-therapy group serves as an interface for multiple subsystems, including families, trainees, and staff.
• Focus on enhancing communication, role modeling, and realistic goal setting.

Main Results:

• The integrated model successfully opened communication channels between therapists and parents regarding child progress.
• Increased parent engagement in the treatment process was observed.
• Facilitated greater awareness and progress toward family and individual goals.

Conclusions:

• Combining multiple-family-therapy with parallel groups offers a more effective therapeutic intervention for child and adolescent guidance.
• This integrated approach significantly improves parent-therapist communication and parental involvement in treatment.
• The model supports enhanced goal setting and skill development for families, trainees, and staff.