Use of a reference group in researching children’s views of psychotherapy in Malta

ABSTRACT

This paper explores the process and outcomes of a children’s reference group within the context of child psychotherapy research in residential care. The reference group was set up to consult children about the design of a research project which seeks to evoke, represent and understand children’s views of psychotherapy. No work to date has explored the experience of reference groups in the context of child psychotherapy in residential care in Malta. The paper contextualises the research within the literature on reference groups in child research, which identifies the potential of reference groups as a participative and co-reflexive activity which can inform research design. The paper critically examines the nature and conduct of the reference group by acknowledging the specific context of this work rather than assuming this is necessarily positive. It does so by specifying and evaluating the outcomes of the reference group in line with its aims. The paper draws on the recordings of the reference group meetings and reference group field notes taken by the researcher as key data which were thematically analysed. The main outcomes of the reference group include children’s contribution to the design of data collection methods especially in terms of not relying only on words during data collection. Children also identified key ethical issues from the point of view of young psychotherapy service users, especially in relation to issues of trust within a residential care context. Children also reviewed and appraised research information material. The reference group process drew from the researcher’s and participants’ contexts and contributed significantly to the researcher’s reflexive process especially in terms of acknowledging his power and positioning as an adult and his dual role as a practitioner/researcher.

KEYWORDS:

• Reference groups
• child participation
• children’s views of psychotherapy
• residential care
• looked after children

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. NVivo is Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software (CAQDAS).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Daniel Mercieca

Daniel Mercieca trained at the University of Hertfordshire and at the European Centre for Psychotherapeutic Studies and is presently reading for a PhD at University College London (UCL). He works as a drama therapist, part time lecturer and supervisor. He formed part of a team who conducted research commissioned by the Office of the Commissioner for Children, focusing on the needs of looked after children in Malta. He is a founding member of the Creative Arts Therapies Society in Malta and an expert member on the National Institute for Childhood within the President of Malta Foundation for the Wellbeing of Society.

Phil Jones

Phil Jones is Professor of Children’s Rights and Wellbeing at UCL’s Institute of Education. Publications include Rethinking Childhood: Attitudes in Contemporary Society (Continuum); Rethinking Children’s Rights (with Welch, Bloomsbury); Exploring Education and Childhood (with Wyse, Davis and Rogers, Routledge), The Arts Therapies (Routledge), Drama As Therapy (Routledge) and he is editor of Bloomsbury’s New Childhoods Series. His research has been supported by the LankellyChase Foundation and the Children’s Commissioner for England. Phil has lectured widely including as keynote speaker for the Triennial Congress on World Psychotherapy held in Sydney.