Making use of countertransference in qualitative research: exploring the experiences of mental health professionals working with refugee and immigrant families

ABSTRACT

The objective of the paper is to explore countertransference in qualitative research. Specifically, through the examination of a study which explored the experiences of mental health professionals working with refugee and immigrant families with infants and young children, the paper aims to demonstrate how the monitoring of countertransference can be transformed into a useful research tool. Countertransference movements are examined on multiple levels, in the mental health worker-immigrant/refugee dyad, in the researcher-participant dyad, and at the institutional level. The importance of thinking about a whole research process in terms of the process of countertransference is discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Psychoanalytic research
• countertransference
• early intervention
• immigrants
• refugees

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The research project is part of the post-doctoral research of the first writer entitled: ‘Early intervention in Refugee and Immigrant Families with Young Children: Investigating the Effectiveness of the Programmes’, the implementation of which was co-financed by Greece and the European Social Fund (ESF) through the Operational Programme ‘Human Resources Development, Education and Lifelong Learning’, in the framework of the programme ‘SUPPORT OF POSTGRADUATE RESEARCHERS’ implemented by the State Scholarship Foundation (IKY).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Anthia Navridi

Anthia Navridi is an Assistant Professor of Psychology in the Department of Early Childhood Education and Care, University of West Attica, Athens, Greece. She specialises in early intervention and prevention programmes. She is member of the French Society of Psychoanalytic Group Psychotherapy (SFPPG) and the Greek Society of Psychoanalytic Group Psychotherapy (HSPGP).

Lida Anagnostaki

Lida Anagnostaki is an Assistant Professor in Psychodynamic Perspectives in Developmental Psychology, Department of Early Childhood Education, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and a full member of the Hellenic Association of Child and Adolescent Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy. Her research interests include psychoanalysis and education, trauma, and parent- child separation