PubMed HealthSearch

Biomedical subjects

W Kurtines

Publications and source records attributed to W Kurtines.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

Interplay of advances between theory, research, and application in treatment interventions aimed at behavior problem children and adolescents.

This article examines the important role that the interplay between theory, research, and application has in fostering breakthroughs in the treatment of clinical problems. This issue is presented in the context of an ongoing program of psychotherapy research that targets for intervention Hispanic behavior problem youth and their families. Findings and breakthroughs in structural family therapy, the measurement of family and child psychodynamic functioning, the development of culturally appropriate interventions, the role of attrition as a measure of outcome, and the investigation of theoretically postulated mechanisms in behavior change are discussed. Recommendations for future research directions are made.

Adolescent

Structural family versus psychodynamic child therapy for problematic Hispanic boys.

Structural family therapy, psychodynamic child therapy, and a recreational control condition were compared for 69 six-to-twelve-year-old Hispanic boys who presented with behavioral and emotional problems. The results suggest that the control condition was significantly less effective in retaining cases than the two treatment conditions, which were apparently equivalent in reducing behavioral and emotional problems as well as in improving psychodynamic ratings of child functioning. Structural family therapy was more effective than psychodynamic child therapy in protecting the integrity of the family at 1-year follow-up. Finally, the results did not support basic assumptions of structural family systems therapy regarding the mechanisms mediating symptom reduction.

Child