Integrative therapy in practice: A qualitative evidence synthesis
Translated title
Integrativ terapi i praksis: En kvalitativ evidens syntese
Author
Granås, Ragnhild Marie Horn
Term
4. term
Education
Publication year
2020
Submitted on
2020-05-29
Pages
79
Abstract
This thesis explores how psychotherapists experience integration in their everyday practice. To deepen understanding of integrative psychotherapy, a qualitative evidence synthesis (systematic review of qualitative studies) was conducted with searches in PsycINFO and Scopus. Five relevant qualitative studies were included and analyzed using thematic analysis. Six themes described therapists’ experiences of integration: relational context, flexibility, personal integration, managing tensions between theories and methods, a conflicted relationship with evidence‑based research, and an implicit process. Across studies, integration emerged as something that unfolds within the therapeutic relationship, where therapists work pragmatically and flexibly from a personal treatment model, continually adjust interventions, and draw on both professional and personal aspects of themselves. Therapists reported handling theoretical and clinical tensions in different ways and often trusting their implicit, experience‑based knowledge more than research findings. The results are discussed as a form of knowing‑in‑action, with attention to the research–practice gap and the professionalism of integrative therapists. Implications include more practice‑oriented training with a focus on relational skills, and future research is suggested on less experienced therapists’ integration processes, differences in flexibility between integrative and single‑model therapies, the research–practice gap, and observation of in‑session actions.
Dette speciale undersøger, hvordan psykoterapeuter oplever integration i deres praksis. For at få indblik i integrativ psykoterapi blev der gennemført en kvalitativ evidenssyntese (systematisk review af kvalitative studier) med søgninger i PsycINFO og Scopus. Fem relevante kvalitative studier blev inkluderet og analyseret via tematisk analyse. Seks gennemgående temaer beskrev terapeuters oplevelser af integration: relationel kontekst, fleksibilitet, personlig integration, håndtering af spændinger mellem teorier og metoder, et ambivalent forhold til evidensbaseret forskning samt en overvejende implicit proces. På tværs af studierne fremstod integration som noget, der sker i den terapeutiske relation, hvor terapeuter arbejder pragmatisk og fleksibelt ud fra en personlig behandlingsmodel, løbende justerer interventioner og trækker på både deres professionelle og personlige sider. Terapeuterne beskrev, at de ofte håndterer teoretiske og kliniske spændinger på forskellige måder og i nogen grad stoler mere på erfaringsbaseret, implicit viden end på forskningsresultater. Resultaterne drøftes som en form for viden‑i‑handling, med opmærksomhed på kløften mellem forskning og praksis og på integrative terapeuters professionalitet. Der peges på implikationer for mere praksisnær uddannelse med fokus på relationelle færdigheder og foreslås videre forskning i bl.a. mindre erfarne terapeuters integrationsprocesser, forskelle i fleksibilitet mellem integrativ og enstrenget terapi, forsknings‑praksis‑kløften samt observation af handlinger i terapi.
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