From clinical work it was expected that most patients would be able to benefit from talking therapy, yet the concept o f intelligence is one that is enshrined in the YAVIS criteria. It was decided by the researchers that, although they felt it might be a countertransferential issue for therapists (selecting patients who they considered to be like themselves), as it was often measured as a part o f the (limited) research on therapy it was important to show that the patient group was one that did not fulfill expectations. Often in therapy research the notion o f intelligence is measured by educational attainments. This is a limited measure o f intelligence (those who have not high educational attainments may not necessarily be less intelligent), especially for the group o f people who were seen at Nafsiyat; who might have been expected to have been discriminated against at school. Therefore it was expected only a proportion o f the patients would have high educational qualifications^.
5. Success
Given the particular problems experienced by migrant and British bom ethnic minorities in employment, the assumption here was that this particular group would not be considered “successful” in terms o f type o f employment (if any - see retrospective
study results) or in terms o f their ability to pay for therapy, or other factors for example:- occupation, housing etc.
^ A s th e resea rch involved p atien ts in giving tim e on top of their therapy to fill out q u estio n n a ires, it w a s c o n sid e red inappropriate to ex ten d this tim e com m itm ent by adding in telligen ce q u estio n n a ires. This a lso obviated the problem of IQ t e s t s ’s validity in other cultures.
3.3.4 The majority o f patients at the Centre would live in Islington (see 1.1).
It would be expected that, as Borough o f Islington supported the Centre through grants from the Health Authority and Borough, it would refer more patients than other boroughs (the service is free to those in Islington). As this service is unique, it was expected that the majority o f patients would come from Islington but that patients from other Boroughs would be seen.
3.3.5 The patients at the Centre would be referred from a variety o f professions and would self refer(see section 1.1, 1.15.1).
As referral agencies (especially G.P’s) seem less accustomed to referring ethnic minority patients for psychotherapy it was hypothesised that the majority o f patients would be self referred (see section 3.1.2.2).
3.3.6 The patients at the Centre would not be registered with a G.P. (see section 1.15.1).
From Rwegellera’s (1980) work it was anticipated that many o f the patients would not be registered with a G.P.
3.3.7 The patients at the Centre who referred themselves would show a different demographic profile to those who were referred through professional channels (see section 1.9.3).
It was hypothesised (from clinical work at the Centre) that there would be a difference in terms o f sex and age between those patients who self referred (who would follow usual psychotherapy patient profiles) compared to those who came from different referral source
3.3.8 The patients at the Centre would not pay fo r therapy (see section 1.9.5). It was expected that few patients would pay for their therapy, and hence this would not be a variable in this study (see also section 3.1).
3.4 Specific Cultural Issues In Intercultural Work^
3.4.1 The patients at the Centre would come from a variety o f family backgrounds including extended families.
A commonly reported finding is that the extended family framework is a feature o f some cultures. It was hypothesised that some patients would be living in extended family frameworks; however previous clinical work at Nafsiyat had suggested that patients tended to be living on their own or in more “nuclear” arrangements. It was,
therefore, considered important to evaluate whether this patient group conformed to the traditional assumptions about ethnic minorities.
3.4.2 Patients at the Centre would be practicing a religion (see section 1.2, 1.10) From a review o f conventional assumptions, it was hypothesised that patients would be practising a religion and this would form an important part o f their lives. This assumption had been challenged by the initial clinical work at Nafsiyat. Therefore, as religion may be a fundamental part o f a person’s understanding o f their culture, such discrepancies between the clinical experience and the conventional assumptions needed to be identified and evaluated.
3.5 Psychological
Characteristics
that
Affect
Utilisation
of
Psychotherapy : Life Stresses
3.5.1 M any o f the patients at the Centre would have had experience o f migration
(see section 1.10.[1]).
From a review o f the literature it was hypothesised that migration would have psychological effects and from the retrospective study it was assumed that the majority o f patients would be migrants.
3.5.2 The patients at the Centre would come fr o m both rural an d urban backgrounds (see section 1.10 [1]).
It was hypothesised from the literature that patients who had moved from rural to urban locations would fare worse “psychologically” than those who moved from urban to urban environments.
3.5.3 The patients at the Centre would have exierienced racism and prejudice (see section 1.10 [2])
Because o f the cultural backgrounds o f the patiens, it was anticipated that most o f the patients would have had experience o f racism.
3.5.4 The patients at the Centre would have experienced many separations (see section 1.10.[3]).
From the retrospective study it was noted that thispatient group appeared to have many separations in their lives, it was hypothesised that this would be upheld in the