Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy 2015, 36, 307–309

doi: 10.1002/anzf.1120

Editorial
Research in Marital and Family Therapy
This issue focuses on research in marital and family therapy, which is timely given
the focus of the AAFT national conference in Melbourne this year. Following an
interesting practice article about systemic work with trauma, there are five papers pre-
senting a range of research studies on the following topics: working with families
where there are child protection concerns and a parent has a mental health and/or
drug and alcohol problem; expectations concerning use of a client feedback procedure
by couple and family therapists; the value of perpetrator subtypes in preventing and
treating intimate partner violence; comparing the psychological wellbeing of same-sex
attracted and heterosexual parents; and emotional regulation in post-divorce couple
relationships. Finally there is a recent interview with Ron Perry.
First up is ‘Riding the Wave’: Working Systemically with Traumatised Families from
Fiona McIlwaine and Kerry O’Sullivan. This article draws on the authors’ extensive
clinical experience at the Bouverie Centre in Melbourne, working with families
affected by a range of trauma, such as physical and sexual abuse and neglect. After
outlining the significant impact of trauma on the individual as well as on family rela-
tionships, a trauma-informed-systemic approach for working with traumatised families
is described, which is especially relevant for clients challenged by excessively height-
ened behaviour and emotional dysregulation. The treatment approach emphasises par-
enting work, being attuned to and responsive with children, and the importance of
therapists managing their own emotional reactivity. While working with traumatised
families is seen as complex and challenging, it offers a safe place for family members
to share their emotional pain and ‘ride the wave’ to recovery.
The first research paper is by Coates and Howe from Gosford, NSW, Working
with Families who Experience Parental Mental Health and/or Drug and Alcohol Problems
in the Context of Child Protection Concerns: Recommendations for Service Improvement.
This study presents feedback from key stakeholders concerning a service model
targeting at families where parent(s) have a mental health and/or drug and alcohol
problem and there are child protection concerns. Ten interviews with clinicians high-
light the difficulties of working with this complex client group and its impact on staff
especially burnout. Interviews with 20 discharged clients point to the importance of
the therapeutic relationship in establishing client engagement and facilitating change.
In designing service models for working with such complex and crisis prone families,
protecting staff against burnout is a major recommendation.
The second research article by Oanes, Borg and Karlsson from Norway is Signifi-
cant Conversations or Reduced Relational Capacity? Exploring Couple and Family Thera-
pists’ Expectations for Including a Client Feedback Procedure. The paper explores the
expectations of experienced couple and family therapists concerning the use of a com-
prehensive therapy feedback procedure, Systemic Therapy Inventory of Change and its
influence on clinical practice. Six focus group interviews identified two main themes.
First, the impact on values embedded in current practice with subthemes including
balancing the therapist’s expert knowledge with experience-based knowledge of clients

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as well as building alliances. The second theme is the presumed influence of the feed-
back procedure on practice with subthemes including the therapist’s capacity to ‘stay
present’, ‘shape conversations’ and increase ‘relational depth’. While some practitioners
consider the feedback procedure could be overwhelming and others were sceptical
about its presumed influence on practice, it has the potential to enhance reflective and
collaborative practice in family therapy.
Next we have Challenges for Divorced Parents: Regulating Negative Emotions in
Post-divorce Relationships by Helena Willen from Sweden. This is a qualitative research
study into emotion regulation processes in post-divorce parental relationships using
thematic analysis. In two separate interview episodes, three and five years post-divorce,
55 people were interviewed: ten couples and 35 individuals. Two themes emerged
on how parents deal with their negative emotions after divorce. One was emotion
regulation flexibility, where well-adjusted parents make flexible, functional and situa-
tion-appropriate use of the whole spectrum of emotion regulation strategies. This
contributes to positive feedback loops over situations and between parents and chil-
dren. Where there is emotion regulation rigidity, parents retain feelings of anger, hos-
tility and resentment with hostile relations maintained by rumination and attribution
of fault to the other parent. There is an important role for emotion regulation in
post-divorce family conflict and therapy.
The fourth research paper is Intimate Partner Violence Perpetrator Subtypes and
their Developmental Origins: Implications for Prevention and Intervention by Jessica
Bernardi and Andrew Day from Deakin University, Victoria. The authors note while
intimate partner violence is a major issue for many Australians, there has been slow
progress towards developing effective prevention and behaviour change programs.
They propose that distinctive and clinically meaningful perpetrator subtypes, associ-
ated with different developmental experiences, can shape the way aggression and vio-
lence is expressed in families. Here treatment outcomes could be improved by
tailoring treatment to a small set of personal and offence-related characteristics
matched to the specific needs of perpetrator subtypes. The paper explores the devel-
opmental origins and trajectories of these presentations and identifies directions for
further research in this area.
In Psychological Wellbeing Among Same-sex Attracted and Heterosexual Parents: Role
of Connectedness to Family and Friendship Networks, Jennifer Power and colleagues
from Victoria, note that increasing numbers of lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) adults
are entering into parenthood. Previous studies indicate many of these parents receive
little or no support from their families of origin due to family members’ negative atti-
tudes toward homosexuality. In this study, data were derived from two studies of par-
ents: Work, Love, Play, a study of Australian and New Zealand LGB parents
(n = 324); and the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, a population-based
study of young children and parents (n = 6,460). LGB parents reported feeling less
connected to their families of origin but more connected to their friendship groups
than heterosexual parents. Counter to previous research, there was no difference in
the psychological wellbeing of LGB parents compared to heterosexual parents. The
clinical implications for counsellors and family therapists are discussed.
Finally we have a recent interview with Ron Perry by Terrie Toner from Relation-
ships Australia, Sydney. Ron offers valuable insights into family therapy training and
the important role of supervision and teamwork, especially in dealing with complex
families affected by trauma issues.

308 ª 2015 Australian Association of Family Therapy

 Editorial

In December we look forward to a guest issue on the important topic of ethics

and family therapy from Associate In–Practice Editor, Elisabeth Shaw, which includes
articles from renowned international authors Ken Gergen and Sheila McNamee.

Glenn Larner
Editor, ANZJFT
glarner@aapt.net.au

ª 2015 Australian Association of Family Therapy 309

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