The Facets of Empowerment in Solution-Focused Brief Therapy for Lower-Status Married Women in Taiwan: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

Empowerment is an essential component of therapy. Since SFBT is an empowerment approach, it is vital to explore what kinds of facets of empowerment are generated from SFBT sessions. Nine low-status married women in Taiwan participated as clients in this study. The researcher coded and compared the rates of 20 facets of empowerment from 32 verbatim counseling transcripts of clients' statements. The study uncovered two main findings: (a) the assertive, self-discovering, goal-directed, competent, and interdependent facets were the highest rated facets of empowerment in all the SFBT sessions; and (b) between “1 Session Group” and “4–10 Sessions Group,” significant differences emerged regarding 7 facets of empowerment and these two groups. A comparison between SFBT and feminist approach and discussion about cultural factors were presented. Finally, a case example demonstrates how SFBT sessions can generate high levels of specific facets of empowerment.

KEYWORDS:

• empowerment
• solution-focused brief therapy
• Taiwanese
• women

This study received funding from the National Science Council of Taiwan. An earlier version of this article was presented at the annual convention of the American Psychology Association Annual Conference, Hawaii, 2004.

Notes

Note. N = the total number of accounts of this facet.

Note. n = the number of clients.

*p < .05.