S. Vuchinich (1999). Problem Solving in Families: Research and Practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications (238 pp)
✍ Scribed by Cas Schaap
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1999
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 30 KB
- Volume
- 6
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 1063-3995
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Problem Solving in Families: Research and Practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications (238 pp) When I first saw this book, I was put on the wrong foot. Leafing through it I was looking for the entries addiction' and aggression', areas that have generated considerable interest among family researchers, and in which I had been preparing a grant proposal. The index did not show these entries. After my first shock I read the book more carefully; I knew the author's name and was sure he had something interesting to say. I soon realized that this is not a cookbook about family problems: You think of a problem, the solution is described. The author takes you along a different route, partly historical and partly rational-cognitive, maybe better: constructivist. Family problem solving is seen as the removal of conditions that block the attainment of a family-based goal. How are we going to study this process? Researchers obviously prefer experimental conditions where factors can be controlled: a family is confronted with a problem and invited to come to a solution. The way they arrive at a solution is then monitored. The author's focus is on problem-solving that takes place in a routine ecological niche in normal, day-to-day family life. A complex situation that requires considerable methodological skill, but that is much needed. We simply do not know enough about how families behave outside of the laboratory. The book offers a systematic presentation of the main currents of thinking about family problem solving. The first three chapters describe the concept of family problem-solving, the scientific theories and methods and the results that they have yielded. Chapters 4 and 5 present a new framework for conceptualizing key components of family problemsolving as well as an evaluation of the dominant rational paradigm and its elements. Formulated on the level of the