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Don't mind me, I'm just the parent : an investigation into the therapeutic alliance between staff and parents in a child in-patient psychiatric unit

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 127-138).

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Marks, Robyn
Other Authors: De Jager, Willem
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Psychology 2014
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access_status_str Open Access
author Marks, Robyn
author2 De Jager, Willem
author_browse De Jager, Willem
Marks, Robyn
author_facet De Jager, Willem
Marks, Robyn
author_sort Marks, Robyn
collection Thesis
description Includes bibliographical references (leaves 127-138).
format Thesis
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institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:32:27.580Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2014
publishDateRange 2014
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publisher Department of Psychology
publisherStr Department of Psychology
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source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/7997 Don't mind me, I'm just the parent : an investigation into the therapeutic alliance between staff and parents in a child in-patient psychiatric unit Marks, Robyn De Jager, Willem Clinical Psychology Includes bibliographical references (leaves 127-138). This study is a qualitative exploration of the concept of therapeutic alliance between staff andparents in a child in-patient psychiatric unit, namely the Therapeutic Learning Centre T.L.C), at the Red Cross Children's Hospital in Cape Town. The aims of the study were to firstly, explore how parents experience the process of admission and treatment of their child to a psychiatric inpatient unit and secondly, to ascertain what factors foster or inhibit therapeutic alliance between staff and parents. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the psychologist and relevant nurses of the T.L.C and the parents of two children who had been admitted to the unit. Initial interviews were conducted shortly after admission of each child, and follow-up interviews were conducted on discharge for the first case and midway through the treatment of the second case. In addition, participant observation was employed by attending the multidisciplinary case conferences at the T.L.C. Interviews were recorded and transcribed, the data was analysed by using thematic analysis. The themes which emerged were informed by current research trends in in-patient child psychiatry. The dominant issues relevant to parental experiences are: a) the trauma inherent in living with and caring for a psychiatrically ill child and b) the ambivalent feelings that arise from admission and treatment which are often related to parents' unconscious fears of being blamed for their child's condition. This study has shown that therapeutic alliance is comprised of many variables that affect both staff and parents, and that these variables may be both unconscious and conscious. Furthermore, therapeutic alliance cannot be assessed merely by the attendance of the parents at the meetings prescribed by the unit. The study concludes with a consideration of the limitations of this research and recommendations for both future research and clinical practice are made 2014-10-02T13:21:15Z 2014-10-02T13:21:15Z 2004 Master Thesis Masters MA http://hdl.handle.net/11427/7997 eng application/pdf Department of Psychology Faculty of Humanities University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Clinical Psychology
Marks, Robyn
Don't mind me, I'm just the parent : an investigation into the therapeutic alliance between staff and parents in a child in-patient psychiatric unit
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Don't mind me, I'm just the parent : an investigation into the therapeutic alliance between staff and parents in a child in-patient psychiatric unit
title_full Don't mind me, I'm just the parent : an investigation into the therapeutic alliance between staff and parents in a child in-patient psychiatric unit
title_fullStr Don't mind me, I'm just the parent : an investigation into the therapeutic alliance between staff and parents in a child in-patient psychiatric unit
title_full_unstemmed Don't mind me, I'm just the parent : an investigation into the therapeutic alliance between staff and parents in a child in-patient psychiatric unit
title_short Don't mind me, I'm just the parent : an investigation into the therapeutic alliance between staff and parents in a child in-patient psychiatric unit
title_sort don t mind me i m just the parent an investigation into the therapeutic alliance between staff and parents in a child in patient psychiatric unit
topic Clinical Psychology
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/7997
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