ABSTRACT
Early research related to the FLSD was mostly concerned with the effectiveness of family therapy interventions related to the short-term family interventions with at-risk youth. The FLSD has been used as a research device in various research settings throughout the over 40 years of using the expressive, symbolic assessment tool. This chapter reviews the various research processes that have been applied in the past to the multiple family member assessment tool. The FLSD has been utilized as a measure of effective treatment by comparing first and last sessions using the assessment measure both times. The chapter also provides some examples of current pilot studies that compare the expressive symbolic FLSD with standardized survey methods that measure family functioning and attachment.
