Berättelser om hjälpsamma samtal En narrativ studie om verksamma processer I terapi och behandling

Abstract

The title of the study is: "Stories about helpful conversations - a narrative study of active processes in therapy and treatment." The purpose of this study was to examine clients' stories of what has been helpful to them in therapy / treatment. The study has been made in light of the ongoing discussion in society about the requirements for empirical studies within welfare areas. The choice to make a narrative study comes from the desire to have clients' own stories at the centre of what has been helpful in the therapeutic process. The author has interviewed and talked with four people (clients) who told us about their experiences of therapy / treatment. Narrative research methodology is based on people's life stories. The author, in her study has started from a social constructionist standpoint where one takes into consideration that the social reality we live in and talk about is socially constructed. Based on a narrative approach one creates the sense and understanding of situations and events purely by narrating them. Central to this study is the idea that the interviewee is involved in the analysis process since they, together with the author / interviewer explore the story that occurs in the immediate context of the interview. The joint exploration is a way to co-create knowledge on the issue, and find what has been helpful in the therapeutic process. Furthermore, the analysis continues without the interviwees' direct involvement when the author analyses the narrative material based on narrative methodology, and links it to theoretical reflection. This study's results are therefore in different stages. Firstly the interview context and the narratives that occur therein form a type of result which in turn is presented and analyzed by the author in the second phase. A third phase consists of four themes that the author has singled out from the processing of the narrative material: Creating meaning - a question of complexity, The ‘personal’ in the meeting, The client at the center, The relationship is the answer. These four themes are highlighted as essential and further discussed by the author on a theoretical level. What finally emerges as a result of this study when it comes to finding helpful factors in the therapy / treatment is to look beyond the client / therapist factors and instead emphasize the common activity that therapy / treatment forms. Focus is thus moved away from the properties of either clients or therapists to what one does in the therapy room, to the relationship. Another clear "answer" that emerges is that it is not individual factors that create a supportive therapeutic environment but rather that it is a tapestry of such factors combined.