Introduction
This report is a research proposal for a project in psychology. The topic of the research is related to Child Couple Family Therapy (CCFT). Child Couple Family Therapy is a branch of psychotherapy that deals with relationship counseling. The therapist makes a comprehensive assessment to establish mutually acceptable goals and provide support to children, adults, and a family affected by the crisis.
Further, it emphasizes family relationships as an important factor in a person’s psychological health to nurture change and development. CCFT therapist facilitates and encourages wholeness, growth in adolescents, adults, couples, and families through an engaging and lively therapeutic relationship. Several studies have revealed that therapist plays a vital role in the growth of an individual. However, in many cases, the self of the therapist in the context of stress, grief, depression, self-awareness, and other issues have ruined the therapist’s personal and professional life. “Helping is about human growth, personal responsibility, learning, and skill. All these make a difference to the helpee and the helper; they make a difference to all people.” (Eleni, Deanna & Karen, 2006).
Even though these therapist reduces stress and builds relationship, still it has been found that an Individuals working in Child Couple and Family Therapy Program, have a higher rate of relationship failure than that of MBA students. The desired project work aims to understand the reason behind why therapists stand a higher chance of ruined personal relationships them MBAs.
The topic of the research
The topic of the project research to be conducted encompasses an analysis of the reasons behind the failure of family relationships of individuals involved in CCFT as compared to the people studying for MBA.
Hypothesis
The project will aim to explore and attempt to prove the following hypothesis, i.e., “individuals in child couple, and family therapy programs have a higher rate of relationship failures than that of MBA students.” Involvement in therapy can result in two types of influence in the life of a therapist. One is the influences of personal lives on the profession, and the other is the influence of profession on personal life.
This project aims to study the influence of professional life on personal life. Since the therapists deal with the psychological problems of people, including the children, they are supposed to have better knowledge about the different psychological aspects related to human behavior. A better knowledge of the behavior is beneficial in the sense that they will be able to settle the problems within their family with the least possible effort. But studies have shown that these therapists are the ones whose family life is badly affected by relationship failures than the normal MBAs who may not be an expert in the field of psychology or related subjects.
Aims and objectives
The major objective of this project is to analyze the reasons for the failure of family relationships of CCF therapists as compared to that of MBA students. The clear aims and objectives of the project can be stated as follows.
- To analyze the reason for the failure of family relations of the CCF therapists.
- To analyze the reasons why MBAs are efficient in handling problems than CCF therapists.
- To provide proper suggestions for overcoming this problem.
The scope of this project is a bit narrow as the behavioral patterns of two independent variables are compared with each other.
Preliminary literature search
The therapy, as the name indicates, is focused on a three-tier basis. That is for the child, couple, and family. “Families most often seek the help of a therapist when one or more members of the family are experiencing some sort of personal or relationship stress.” (Family therapy, Families, 2007). A family is the composition of all the above three elements, and if the peace of any of those is spoiled, the whole family gets affected. The program is mainly focused on helping families to lead a problem-free successful life. “In many cases, the marriage and family therapy team consists of a man and a woman in order to treat gender-related issues or serve as role models for family members.” (Family therapy, 2007).
Even though the Child Couple Family Therapy is a very helpful mode of treatment for many individuals, the family relationship of the therapists who are involved in it confronts a higher rate of relationship failures. This stage of the work is intended to gather detailed information relating to the given topic. The major area that will be focused on by this work will be the reasons for the relationship failure among the CCF therapists.
It is said that the personal life of the therapists is significantly affected by their professional life. The therapists undergo different types of training on dealing with matters related to the psychological problems of individuals. This training may either create a direct or an indirect impact on their personal life. All these trainings were intended not only to help them to deal with individuals but also to practice those in their real life.
The training and practice of these psychological theories influence the therapists mainly in three forms. That is, the therapists become more psychological-minded, which makes them more introspective, and finally, it causes them to be very self-confident. “The therapeutic role brings about greater “psychological mindedness”; therapeutic work makes them more introspective; and therapeutic work enhances their self-esteem and self-confidence.” (Eleni, Deanna & Karen, 2006).
The therapists apply the theories they learned in their real life. This had created both positive as well as negative impacts on their behavior towards others. The therapists tend to compare the behavior of others in their real-life to the one they have seen in the patients whom they met. Thus the therapists’ focus becomes oriented on a relationship as a patient, and they see their wives or children as patients rather than loved ones.
As a result, even very small behavioral disorders in their behavior will be noted and related to different syndromes being manifested by them. The therapists become more analytical than understanding towards their beloved. Thus any usual day-to-day problems in life become different syndromes, and the total relationship gets affected. More often, the treatment becomes more serious than the disease itself. This forges vacuums in relationships.
While comparing the MBA with the therapists, it can be found that the therapists have more relationship failures than the MBA. It should be noted that MBAs are not experts in dealing with the psychological aspects of human beings; but however, they have got exposure in dealing with the day-to-day problems in their family and other relationships by their HRD activities in their organization. The MBA does not apply any complex theories to simple problems which can be sorted out by a mere discussion. It is this factor that differentiates the MBA from the therapist. In other words, MBAs are more pragmatic.
They have a well-planned strategy to achieve their goal even in their family life. They are found to be less sentimental as emotions and feelings have very little role in their profession. The therapists, on the other hand, always deal with emotions and sentiments in their real life. MBAs rather take a systematic approach in the profession, and it helps them to be systematic in their real-life too.
Research methodology
Research methodology refers to the methodology that is adapted to conduct the research on the given topic. Basically, there are two types of research as primary and secondary. The research is conducted for this study includes both primary and secondary. For conducting a detailed study relating to this topic, a lot of information regarding the implications of the topic has to be gathered. Secondary data is very much essential for that.
Primary research
A primary research should be conducted in order to gather necessary information for finding a result for the project. Here the primary data to be collected are by examining personal experiences of the therapists and MBA regarding their family relationship. Data can be collected by using methods like questionnaires and interviews.
Secondary research
Secondary research is the research that is conducted on the basis of secondary data which are already available. For this project, a very high volume of secondary data is necessary, and it should be gathered from many articles and websites. The findings of the research will be based on the findings of the research and the conclusions of the used secondary data.
Sample size
As mentioned earlier, primary data can be collected from a general population of therapists and MBAs. It is not possible to gather information from all the available persons. A few persons who are specialized in their particular area of knowledge can be approached for gathering information. So it is desirable to take equal samples of both MBA and therapists for research purposes. In this study, the sample size can be limited to 20, which comprises ten therapists and ten MBAs.
To avoid gender bias, it is better to select an equal number of men and women in each category. The respondents between the age group of 25 to 50 would form an ideal cross-section of both communities. The independent variables in this research are CCF Therapists and MBA. The dependent variable is relationship status. Both of the independent variables are being compared on the parameter of relationship status, basing on the information provided by the sample group.
Questionnaire
The questionnaire is used to collect primary information in this research. A questionnaire with well-planned questions that are related to the objectives of the study must be used here. A sample of the questionnaire used here for the research is as follows.
- How many members are there in your family?
- Is your spouse employed?
- Yes
- No
- Does the employment of your spouse affect your family relationships?
- Yes
- No
- Are there any relationship problems between you and your spouse or any other family members?
- Yes
- No
- Do you remember the date of birth of each?
- Yes
- No
- How many hours do you spend talking to them every day?
- Below 1 hr
- 1 – 2 hr
- above 2
- Do you physically assault them once in a while?
- Yes
- No
- Are there days when you don’t speak to your spouse and children?
- Yes
- No
- Do you like your spouse criticizing you in any instance?
- Yes
- No
- Is your family budget prepared individually by you or collectively in consultation with your spouse and children?
- Individually
- Collectively
- Does your present family setup act as a hindrance to your professional growth?
- Yes
- No.
Limitations of the study
The research work being carried out in this context is highly related to the personal life of the respondents. The respondents of the research will be MBA and CCFT Therapists. Since most of the questions in the questionnaire are related to their personal lives, many of the respondents will not give accurate information, which will data a certain amount of unreliability.
Conclusion
The data collected by using the questionnaire are to be analyzed to make it meaningful. Since the sample size is 20, comprising of ten MBAs and ten therapists, a comparison of opinions of both groups is possible. This will help the researcher to analyze their family relationship status very easily. The findings of the study are based on the interpretation and analysis of the collected data.
References
Family therapy, Families, (2007). Diane C Shearer. Web.
Family Therapy, (2007). Net Industries. Web.
Eleni, Paris., Deanna, Linville., & Karen, Rosen. (2006). Marriage and family therapist interns’ experiences of growth, Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, BNET. Web.
Eleni, Paris., Deanna, Linville., & Karen, Rosen. (2006). Marriage and family thera1pist interns’ experiences of growth, Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, BNET. Web.