Narratives of personal and professional experiences of psychotherapists working with cases of child and adolescent sexual abuse: A qualitative longitudinal study

IF 1.2 Q3 PSYCHOLOGY, CLINICAL

Counselling & Psychotherapy Research Pub Date : 2023-11-07 DOI:10.1002/capr.12714

Estrella Azócar, Camila Gómez, Claudia Capella, Daniela Águila, Macarena Espeleta

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background

Studies delving into the personal and professional experiences of psychotherapists working with children and adolescents who have been sexually abused are scarce and mostly cross-sectional.

Aim

The present qualitative longitudinal study aimed to describe the narratives that therapists construct about their personal and professional experiences of working with children and/or adolescents who have been victims of sexual aggression during different moments of the psychotherapeutic process.

Method

Eight psychologists were interviewed and asked about the psychotherapy of 12 cases they were developing. These cases were of children and adolescents who had been sexually abused. Each participant was interviewed at different moments of the cases' psychotherapy (6 months into the process, 12 months into the process and once more at the end of therapy for those who received therapy for longer than 12 months). A total of 34 interviews were conducted and studied through narrative analysis.

Results

Three major themes involving the personal and professional experiences of psychotherapists emerged: regarding the patient and their family; regarding the institutional context; and regarding the personal/professional experience. Also, identified and analysed convergences and divergences that appear within these themes at different points in the participants' interviews are highlighted.

Discussion

The findings suggest that therapists manage to navigate the most complex and distressing aspects of each intervention case in the earlier moments of the psychotherapeutic process and later are likely to have an emotional connection with pleasant or satisfactory elements in their work and are likely to end treatment with an appreciation for the learning experiences they have had working with challenging cases and a sense of amazement at the resources and resilience of the children and adolescents they work with.

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讲述心理治疗师处理儿童和青少年性虐待案件的个人和职业经历：定性纵向研究

背景对心理治疗师与遭受性侵犯的儿童和青少年合作的个人和职业经历进行深入研究的研究很少，而且大多是横断面研究。本纵向定性研究旨在描述心理治疗师在心理治疗过程的不同阶段，与遭受性侵犯的儿童和/或青少年合作的个人和职业经历。研究方法对八名心理学家进行了访谈，询问了他们正在开发的 12 个案例的心理治疗情况。这些案例涉及曾遭受性虐待的儿童和青少年。每位参与者都在心理治疗的不同阶段接受了访谈（治疗开始 6 个月、12 个月、治疗结束时再访谈一次，接受治疗的时间超过 12 个月者）。共进行了 34 次访谈，并通过叙事分析进行了研究。结果出现了涉及心理治疗师个人和专业经验的三大主题：关于病人及其家庭；关于机构背景；以及关于个人/专业经验。此外，还强调了在参与者访谈的不同阶段，在这些主题中出现的共同点和不同点，并对这些共同点和不同点进行了分析。讨论研究结果表明，在心理治疗过程的早期阶段，治疗师能够驾驭每个干预案例中最复杂和最令人痛苦的方面，而在后期阶段，治疗师很可能会与工作中令人愉快或满意的因素产生情感联系，并很可能在治疗结束时对他们在处理具有挑战性的案例时获得的学习经验表示赞赏，并对他们所服务的儿童和青少年的资源和复原力感到惊讶。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Counselling & Psychotherapy Research PSYCHOLOGY, CLINICAL-

CiteScore

4.40

自引率

12.50%

发文量

期刊介绍： Counselling and Psychotherapy Research is an innovative international peer-reviewed journal dedicated to linking research with practice. Pluralist in orientation, the journal recognises the value of qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods strategies of inquiry and aims to promote high-quality, ethical research that informs and develops counselling and psychotherapy practice. CPR is a journal of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy, promoting reflexive research strongly linked to practice. The journal has its own website: www.cprjournal.com. The aim of this site is to further develop links between counselling and psychotherapy research and practice by offering accessible information about both the specific contents of each issue of CPR, as well as wider developments in counselling and psychotherapy research. The aims are to ensure that research remains relevant to practice, and for practice to continue to inform research development.