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outset to establish how the therapists meet the couple in therapy - both partners

together, individually, or both together and individually as well. That response

would naturally lead on to why they met them in the way they did. Answering why

would provide us with the issues that couples mostly bring to counselling. Since

the issues require an effective response, the best approach to use must be discussed

and the number of approaches they use in their work with couples would also be

brought up and discussed. The discussion would also involve talking about the

circumstances surrounding the use of these approaches in couple therapy and how

to combine the other approaches. I felt the therapists would be ready at this point to

talk about the elements of successful couple therapy and so move freely into the

main factors of the change process in couple therapy. Bearing in mind that my own

topic is the application of focusing-oriented therapy to couple therapy, I thought

that the question of bodily sensations and how the clients describe them might well

be inserted here. Addressing the way the couple therapists usually work with

couples seemed an appropriate way to conclude the interview.

(2) Focusing-oriented therapists

The purpose of the interviews with focusing-oriented therapists was to

explore the circumstances that led them to use the focusing-oriented approach in

working with couples; how Focusing was used; whether the focusing-oriented

approach was effective; how using the focusing-oriented approach made couple

therapy different; and whether they had taught Focusing to couples. Here the

interview was also a semi-structured interview and used thematic prompts (see

Figure 3) that acted as a framework for the focusing-oriented therapists’ interviews and provided consistency and coherence in the interviews. I drafted the thematic

prompts myself, brought the draft for discussion at supervision time and got the

Figure 3. Thematic prompts for focusing-oriented therapists interviews

1. 1. How many sessions working with couples do you have most of the time? 2. 2. How do you meet couples in couple therapy most of the time?

3. 3. When you meet just one partner why is this? 4. 4. How would you define focusing-oriented approach?

5. What were the circumstances that led to you applying the focusing-oriented approach overtly with a couple in your counselling work? (Are there any case examples you could provide? How do you know when and if to the apply focusing-oriented approach?)

5. 6. How is Focusing used in each case?

6. 7. Is the focusing-oriented approach effective in each case? (How? What outcome is achieved?) 7. 8. How does using the focusing-oriented approach make couple therapy different?

8. 9. Do you have a special way of focusing overtly with clients when you work as a counsellor? (If so, how do you do that?)

9. 10. In what other ways does focusing influence your counselling work? 11. Have you taught Focusing to couples?

The interviews with the focusing-oriented therapists were expected not to

last longer than one hour (Appendix 9: Interview invitation: How to work with

couples) and I wanted to make maximum use of that time. The first three questions

were similar to the ones asked of the couple therapists and they could be answered

quite quickly. I thought it was important to ask them to clarify their definition of

the focusing-oriented approach before going on to talk about using the focusing-

oriented approach with couples. That clarification would also make it easier for

them to explore the circumstances surrounding the application of the focusing-

oriented approach to couple counselling work and it would be better still if they

had case examples to back it up. It seemed to me that all of these thematic prompts

were a good lead up to how one knows when, and if, to apply the focusing-oriented

approach. For myself I was really eager to know how focusing is used in each case,

whether it is effective in each case and if so, the outcome achieved. At this stage of

the discussion I felt the therapist would be ready to talk about how using the

focusing-oriented approach makes couple therapy different. Following on quite

naturally from this would be descriptions of their own special way of focusing

overtly with clients when they work as counsellors. Before concluding the

influences their counselling work. The final thematic prompt touched on the

question of teaching focusing to couples.

(3) General comments on the interview process

Permission was sought from each interviewee to allow the interviewer to

facilitate them to explore in-depth what they had shared. While the interviewer is

both a facilitator and a guide in a semi-structured interview, he or she does not

dictate what will happen in the course of the meeting (Smith, 2008, p.63). In semi-

structured interviews, the interviewee is invited to tell a story or to make some kind

of a narrative relevant to all or part of their own life-experience (Wengraf, 2001,

p.5). The interviewer gave them space to talk about their experience as they wished.

The interviews were conducted informally, on the telephone mainly,

because of geographical distance and because the interviewees preferred the

telephone interview to a face-to-face one. The tape-recorder was switched on after

explaining the confidentiality of the data. Every effort was made to keep the

interviewees safe from harm. One must always evaluate to the extent to which

simply talking about sensitive issues might constitute ‘harm’ for any particular

participant or participant group. The management of data collection events such as

interviews and focus groups requires sensitivity and care. It is important to work

with supervisors and peers to anticipate any safety issues for the researcher and the

participant. It is also important to think about how to provide participants with

access to appropriate support. If there is any chance that the interview may be

upsetting for some of the participants, then there will be need to provide all of them

with access to the appropriate support. The principle of protecting anonymity can

usually be upheld by taking practical steps to inform, protect and gain consent from

the participants. Pains were also taken to gain the rapport and trust of the interviewee by building a conversational partnership. The interviewees were gently

required to explain and to validate their thinking and experience in an effort to

understand the phenomena better. This requirement kept the interview sensitively

challenging and sensing.