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Ethnography in Relation to Couple and Family Therapy

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Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy
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Ethnography in Relation to Couple and Family Therapy

Introduction

Ethnography is a prevalently used scientific method to collect data in qualitative research with the intent to understand individuals through their social and cultural arrangements. Ethnography attempts to define cultural realities by interpreting, analyzing, and documenting detailed descriptions of patterns, events, contexts, and conversations to better comprehend how culture influences human behavior in everyday environment (Tubbs and Burton 2005).

Ethnography has been widely used to enhance the understanding of the practical and theoretical domains of family therapy and its applicability in the client’s real world. In the field of couple and family therapy, the use of ethnographic interviews began as an initiative to create more client-based descriptions of family therapy sessions. This approach was a shift away from the existing literature that primarily focused on the therapist’s perspective. Since...

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References

  • Banister, E. (1996). Spradley’s ethnographic questioning: An invitation for healing. Journal of Constructivist Psychology, 9(3), 213–224.

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  • Pinsof, W., Breunlin, D., Russell, W., Lebow, J., Rampage, C., & Chambers, A. (2018). Integrative systemic therapy: Metaframeworks for problem solving with individuals, couples, and families. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

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  • Spradley, J. (1979). The ethnographic interview. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

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  • Tubbs, C., & Burton, L. (2005). Bridging research: Using ethnography to inform clinical practice. In D. Sprenkle & F. Piercy (Eds.), Research methods in family therapy (pp. 136–154). New York: Guilford Press.

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Correspondence to Rini Kaushal .

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Kaushal, R., Sahebi, B. (2019). Ethnography in Relation to Couple and Family Therapy. In: Lebow, J.L., Chambers, A.L., Breunlin, D.C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49425-8_526

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