Fathers in family therapy: Lessons from research

Treatment outcome research has shown that for 2/3 to 3/4 of cases family therapy is an effective intervention for child focused problems. One factor that has consistently been shown to enhance the effectiveness of family therapy is father involvement. Where fathers do not attend at least some therapy sessions, it is more likely that the family will drop out of treatment or that therapy will not lead to problem resolution. An important question arising from this finding is how best to engage fathers in family therapy and how to create opportunities within therapy for fathers to contribute to resolving presenting problems. In this paper the implications for clinical practice of research on the role of fathers in families and family therapy will be explored.