Homework assignments are tasks that clients in counseling and psychotherapy work on between treatment sessions. Examples include having a depressed client do one rewarding activity a day, having a couple practice active listening skills between sessions, asking a Navajo client exploringcareeroptions to talk to an elder on the topic, having an anxious client practice progressive relaxation techniques, and asking clients to write down their dreams for later processing.
作业作业Relevance
Homework is considered an important component in most behavioral, cognitive, systems, and solution-focused therapies. Practitioners of those methods assign homework with the greatest frequency, but most practitioners, regardless of theoretical perspective, employ home assignments at times. A panel of psychotherapy experts recently rated homework assignments as the intervention most likely to be used more frequently in future years. The economic pressures of managed care have helped spur the use of briefer forms of therapies, and homework has become a cost-effective way of increasing the impact of limited treatment time. Between-session activities have now been proposed by some theorists to be a common factor in the success of all brief therapies.
Purpose and Benefits of Homework Assignments
By using the intervals between sessions, homework assignments increase the time clients spend engaging in activities designed to speed their recovery. Homework allows the generalization and transfer of in-session treatment gains through the use of in-vivo practice in natural settings. Clients doing home tasks can acquire insight and skills, and are more likely to view themselves as change agents rather than as passive recipients of therapy. Many counselors and therapists assess homework compliance in evaluating both treatment progress and the strength of the working alliance. Successful homework is theorized to increase a client’s sense of mastery, self-efficacy, and optimism about treatment success. The skill-building approach of home activities reflects the goals of positivepsychologymodels.
作业作业History and Research
Recommendations for assigned tasks outside the therapy hour began appearing in the literature in the 1940s and 1950s. Theoretical and empirical attention to homework activities has largely paralleled the growth in popularity of cognitive and behavioral models of counseling and psychotherapy. Reflecting the pragmatic nature of homework itself, earlier writings often focused on practitioner recommendations, and became available in published workbooks and manuals. Empirical research has demonstrated that adherence to homework assignments is one of the predictors of successful treatment outcome, and that clients who do the most homework benefit the most in treatment.
初步研究表明,当任务是特定的,在会议上进行排练并与客户的优势,动机水平和治疗目标相匹配时,家庭作业经常完成。客户在选择任务时可能会更加遵守,并且当治疗师写下作业并在下一个会话中进行审查时。心理学家目前正在调查的问题包括影响客户遵守任务的这些因素和其他因素,在作业质量和合规性措施的可靠性以及分配家庭作业过程中的因素,使其最有效。
References:
- Kazantzis, N., Deane, F. P., & Ronan, K. R. (2004). Assessing compliance with homework assignments: Review and recommendations for clinical practice. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 60, 627-641.
- Scheel, M. J., Hanson, W. E., & Razzhavaikina, T. I. (2004). The process of recommending homework in psychotherapy: A review of therapist delivery methods, client acceptability, and factors that affect compliance. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 41, 38-55.