ABSTRACT
This chapter presents some of the helpful findings from family therapy process and outcome research, as the empirical base for family therapy and systemic practice. A. E. Bergin and S. L. Garfield assert that the marital and family therapies have been subjected to rigorous scrutiny, with only a few other models of psychotherapy studied as often. The outcome literature typically reviews the couple/marital and family therapies together. The family process researchers have been interested in the processes hypothesized to bring about change in family therapy, a subject of much interest to the practising clinician. Family psychotherapy process research is research that adds to the outcome literature by asking questions about the active ingredients that promote change. The impact of the gender and ethnicity of the therapist on the developing therapy alliance has received little empirical scrutiny despite its prominence in theoretical writings. Gregory and Leslie report a preliminary survey with sixty-three heterosexual couples.
