Abstract
Child trauma is ubiquitous, and if left untreated has lifelong adverse effects. While trauma-focused psychotherapy is effective in treating children who have experienced trauma, treatment attendance and outcome are contingent on parent support. Furthermore, child treatment is also protected and secured by a positive parent–therapist relationship. However, little attention has been paid to the complexities in the parent–therapist relationship regarding the impact of childhood adversity and trauma when working with a child who has experienced trauma to improve treatment outcomes. This study explores parents’ and therapists’ perceptions of their working relationship to identify and understand obstacles at play that prevent the formation of positive parent–therapist relationships. In pursuit of the objectives, a qualitative methodology aligned with a phenomenological design and interpretive paradigm captured the lived experiences of therapists and parents, intending to understand the meaning that they attributed to the parent–therapist relationship. Fifteen therapists and 15 parent participants in Perth, Western Australia, were purposefully selected, to provide data on their perceptions of the mutual parent–therapist relationship within the psychotherapy setting. The data collection methods in the study involved two questionnaires, one for therapists and one for parents, the Adverse Childhood Experiences questionnaire and a self-reflective journal. Thematic inductive data analysis was applied to analyse the two separate data sets. The research found that the therapists were motivated to work with the parents and parents expected to be included in their children’s treatment. Although relationship barriers, particularly parent trauma, impeded the working relationship, therapists had the expertise to reduce relationship challenges. This research provides new and valuable information to therapists on how to better manage and support parents when working with children who have experienced trauma to optimise child psychotherapy treatment efficiency and outcomes.
Keywords: Child psychotherapy, parent–therapist relationship, working relationship, trauma, treatment efficiency