Maintaining the gains: what worked in the year after brief family therapy

Brief family therapy, including single session therapy, is widely used to provide a timely and responsive service for children with emotional and behavioural problems. However, there is surprisingly little information about how these children and families fare in the longer term. The brief family therapy program descried here is directed towards children with problems of moderate severity. Child Behaviour Checklists (CBCL) were completed by parents before, twelve months after and twelve months after therapy; 110 parents also participated in semi-structured telephone interviews twelve months after therapy. Parents' CBCL ratings showed a significant decrease in children's problems after therapy, which were maintained over the subsequent year, although some children continued to experience difficulties. Parents generally found brief therapy a helpful experience. Ways to strengthen the preventive possibilities of brief therapy work will be identified at both practical and conceptual level. (author abstract)