Paper2:
Conceptualize a Research Problem
Sarai Espinoza-Ruiz
Department of Counseling and Family Sciences, Loma Linda University
CFSD504 Advanced Theory in Marital and Family Therapy
Dr. Lena Lopez Bradley
March 6, 2022
Introduction
Research question
Family plays an important role in the individual’s development and preservation of welfare.
However, the exposure of pastors’ families to ministry-related issues can substantially
impact the family’s functionality. Therefore, the purpose of the current study is to
understand the effects of pastoral ministry on the family’s functionality including areas
such as stability and identity. The study was guided within the framework of Structural
Family Therapy (SFT) to identify the components that intervene in family’s functionality.
Narrative Family Therapy (NFT) will be combined with two purposes, to addressed the
implications of narratives within and outside the family in the construction of family
identity, and to provide the framework for family interventions with this population.
Rationale
Structural Family Therapy (SFT) is a body of theory and techniques that approaches
individuals in their social and relational context (Vere, 2001), that understands the family
as an organization that is well-constructed, with specific elements whose main purpose is to
support, regulate, nurture, and promote socialization among its members (Colapinto, 2018).
Thus, SFT provides a detailed theoretical understanding of the family as a structure and as
an interrelational system.
On the other hand, Narrative Family Therapy (NFT) sustains that individuals develop
stories about themselves and their relationships mostly based on their sociocultural
contexts, discourses, and histories (Gershoni & Dagan, 2017), thus families are meaningmaking and meaningful systems. In this way NFT contributes to the understanding of
meaning construction and its impact on family functionality.
Although SFT and NFT come from different theoretical positions, one being a modern
approach (SFT) and the other a postmodern theory (NFT), it should not create a theoretical
division, instead, connecting the two together may create enrichment and balance for family
therapy among pastoral families.
The combination of both theoretical approaches has been studied and confirmed in the
literature. For instance, a study conducted by McAdams et al. (2016) in assessing the
viability of SFT in the twenty-first century, suggested that the integration of SFT and NFT
would enhance family therapeutic strategies. Additionally, the study encouraged MFT
practitioners to consider a theoretical integration of SFT with other clinical perspectives in
order to better understand and intervene with unique client issues. Similarly, another study
proposing a new theory of change suggested an integration of SFT, NFT, and Solutionfocused approach, in order to promote deeper and lasting change in family dysfunction
(Tadros, 2019). Finally, a research aiming to analyze the contributions of modern and
postmodern approaches concluded that combining strategies and techniques from both
positions in family therapy could create a mutual restrain on the excesses of each, creating a
balance between objective and subjective knowledge and reality (Pocock, 1995).
Hence, taking the previously discussed in consideration, the use of SFT in this study will
then conceptualize family dynamics and principles that integrate the foundational construct
of a family, while NFT will provide the framework for clinical considerations with both
assessing and intervening with pastoral families and simultaneously understanding the
construction of their identity. Thus, bridging SFT’s conceptualization of families with
family narratives will serve to identify dysfunctional interactional patterns and to positively
reframe them. The implications of the use of both theories with pastoral families will be
subsequently addressed. The knowledge that stands to be gained will help to highlight the
role of ministerial challenges and its relation in the maintenance of family functionality and
homeostasis, and subsequently, address the importance of family and social narratives in
either promoting or hindering family functionality and identity among pastoral families.
Relevant theoretical concepts: overview of theory
SFT Tenets
SFT is a therapeutic approach developed by Salvador Minuchin that understands behavioral
problems within the context of the family (Colapinto, 2019). Functional family systems are
those that possess clear boundaries, roles, and rules within the appropriate power hierarchy
(Eddy et al., 2020), while family dysfunction is the lack of coping strategies that hamper
the family’s homeostasis. In other words, well-functioning families are not defined by the
absence of stress or conflict but their capacity to tolerate and handle them while promoting
wellbeing and individual growth, these families succeed not also in coping with stressors
but in maintaining their family identity (Nichols & Colapinto, 2017).
According to SFT family interactional patterns are understood through different structural
components that consequently construct the family system (Colapinto, 2019). Roles, rules,
boundaries, hierarchy, and subsystems are defined as the components of family structure.
Subsystems are smaller groups in which family members meet and interact developing
specific patterns of relationship (Minuchin, 1974) for instance, siblings, spouses, or parentchild relationships. Boundaries are imaginary lines that demarcate the participation of
family members, yet, boundaries expand from the family system to larger environments and
systems outside the family, they also represent degrees of closeness or distance (Eddy et al.,
2020; Colapinto, 2019). Roles and rules could be implicit or explicit and allow negotiation,
transactions, and resolution of problems (Vetere, 2001). Finally, hierarchy describes the
relationships of power within the family that determine decision-making processes and
behavioral regulation (Colapinto, 2019).
Thus, dysfunction in family structure can be seen in two types of families: enmeshed and
disengaged. Enmeshed families are excessively close, share similar opinions and concerns,
have a strong tendency of overprotection, demand mutual loyalty, and have low levels of
individuality (Minuchin, 1974; Tadros, 2019). On the other hand, disengaged families are
characterized by a clear physically and emotionally distance among members, and a lack of
support and protection (Minuchin, 1974; Colapinto, 2019). Hence, for SFT functional
families maintain cohesiveness among its members by simultaneously allowing individual
growth (Colapinto, 2018).
NFT Tenets
NFT is a highly person-centered therapeutic approach developed by Michael White and
David Epston. This theory's fundamental premise is that narratives are often created to
make meaning of one’s world (Zimmerman & Dickerson, 1994). Additionally, narrative
therapists understand identity as a social and relational achievement (Duvall & Young,
2017). Therefore, NFT focuses on the stories that shape the individual’s and family’s
current and future identity, the power of language is central in this approach since it allows
change and insight of family members (Tadros, 2019). For NFT the family is situated
within life as an open and ongoing process, thus, to understand an individual in a family or
the family as a whole, it’s necessary to appreciate the sociocultural context in which they
are situated (Duvall & Young, 2017).
The main characteristics of the NFT approach are the therapeutic posture and its set of
interventions: questions that make a difference, deconstruction, externalization, and reauthoring.
The therapist in NFT adopts a nonexpert therapeutic style from a not-knowing position with
the assumption that families and individuals are the experts in their own life stories. The
role of the therapist then is delineated as a facilitator that collaborates with the family to
facilitate awareness and thus change (Walsh & Keenan, 1997; Duvall & Young, 2017).
As previously mentioned the power of language is central in creating change, therefore the
strategies used in NFT encourage the disclosure of stories and narratives. Questions that
make a difference are directed to attend to the absent but implicit in family stories is paying
attention to some of the more neglected yet potentially significant events in the family’s
life. Externalization is the first step for deconstructing, which involves separating the
person and family from the identified problem, this separation facilitates hope by allowing
families to respond in a preferred to that which is not useful in their storied lives. Finally,
re-authoring positively revises the family stories and discovers patterns within their
narratives to elicit new possibilities of preferred realities, in other words, is the
development of alternative stories that promote both hope and change (Tadros, 2019,
Duvall & Young, 2017).
Conceptualization of research topic
Hence, taking the previously discussed into consideration, the use of SFT in this study will
then conceptualize family dynamics and principles that integrate the foundational construct
of a family, while NFT will provide the framework for clinical considerations with both
assessing and intervening with pastoral families and simultaneously understanding the
construction of their identity.
Research over the past decades has demonstrated that pastoral work can be substantially
draining and extremely consuming, therefore, pastors experience different difficulties in
both their personal and professional lives due to their unique role, extending the impact to
their own families. Yet, pastoral families have been a neglected research area despite the
evidence that these families experience unique and significant pressures in their lives due to
the pastor's role, which may impact the family stability (Maina et al., 2018).
Family structure and functionality in pastoral families
Boundaries: Boundaries have been one of the main struggles for pastoral families, in fact,
most of the stress that pastors and their families experience is caused by the failure of
establishing boundaries between them and their church demands (Gauger & Christine,
2013), actually, pastors usually find it difficult to prioritize their families before their
congregational and community expectations, falling in a tendency to prioritize the demands
of ministry over the demands of the family (Habeck, 1981; Croft & Croft, 2013). Pastors
are expected to be available 24 h a day, 7 days a week (Heck et al., 2017), which results in
pastors’ inability in delineating boundaries around their personal lives which includes their
families (Pooler, 2011). Thus, the work-life balance of pastors is often characterized by role
ambiguity and unclear boundaries (Maina et al., 2018). Boundaries are relevant not only
within the family but also in the family’s larger system, when boundaries are unclear or
weak between the family and its social environment it may interfere in the family
functionality (Colapinto, 2019), and affects the family’s cohesiveness (Eddy et al., 2020).
The congregational community functions as a larger system for the pastoral family, thus
when the demands and expectations from the external world debilitate the family’s
boundaries it will inevitably foster family disfunction.
Rules and roles: The family as a whole create rules and roles that impact their interaction
(Trados, 2019), the individual’s roles and rules in the family depend on their settlement
with the hierarchy (Minuchin, 1974), yet, the hierarchical structure of the family is also
affected by its larger social context (Colapinto, 2019). The very role of the pastor is unique
and demanding, mostly constructed by both external and internal unrealistic expectations
(Ellison et al., 2009) these expectations, however, are also extended to the pastor’s family,
resulting in a ‘family role’ that most of the time also contribute to the creation of rules
within the family that respond to such role. Thus, family expectations will delineate the
family role in its larger system and somehow determine the family rules. Pastors are usually
encouraged and pressured to walk their talk and are overwhelmed with unrealistic
expectations about their role resulting in pressure on their families to serve as ‘model
families’ fulfilling such expectations, creating family tension which can eventually
destabilize the family functionality (Maina et al.,2018; Hayes, 2010). For instance, the
pastor’s role as a spiritual leader is expected to be translated in his spiritual leadership as a
father and spouse evoking specific behaviors and outcomes (Croft & Croft, 2013), such as
optimal functionality during critical situations (Richardson, 2005), acceptance of the
‘fishbowl complex’ which is understanding that his private life along with his family will
be in constant scrutiny and evaluation, and serve as an example and model to the
community. Such expectations will shape the pastor’s role and influence within the family.
On the other hand, the pastor’s spouse is expected to assist the pastor in the ministry duties
since they are a ‘team’, in fact, her role is considered equally divine as the pastor's role
(Maina et al., 2018; Habeck, 1983). Additionally, the spouse is most of the time called to be
a good wife, good mother, and good homemaker, having a great amount of responsibility in
the children’s education and welfare (Habeck, 1983), which could easily generate strong
and rigid subsystems between mother-child that can result in a triangulation of conflict
within the family (Vetere, 2001). Finally, pastors’ spouses are often neglected and
experience isolation (Maina et al., 2018; Habeck, 1983) which could potentially result in
sentiments of resentment.
The pastor’s children share similar expectations, they are in fact probably the most deeply
affected of the whole system. Pastors’ children are not only expected to serve as models but
they are also restricted in their pursuit of internal common desires since they are
encouraged to behave in a specific manner (Maina, 2018). In other words, the pastoral
family role induces implicit and explicit rules in the behavioral regulation of the members.
These children may feel that their parents’ image is preserved at the expense of their
personal life (Hayes, 2010), this often affects their development, maturity, and family
bonding (Aultouse, 2013).
Rules and roles are part of the hierarchical structure of a family and it can also be affected
by the external social system, if this occurs the family may perceive that they have limited
power in their decisions and regulations leaving the family in a vulnerable position
(Colapinto, 2019).
External stressors: finally, pastoral family ministry-related stressors such as lack of
privacy, emotional distress, high expectations, and criticisms from their social system could
hamper the family’s coping strategies and threaten the family's homeostasis. When stress
can’t be handled by the family system the family functionality is at risk (Colapinto, 2018).
Narrative constructions in pastoral families
Stories of the family identity are constructed in the context of historical background and
sociocultural background (Gershoni & Dagan, 2017), individuals such as pastors and their
families, construct personal identities based largely on the roles they occupy (Ellison et al.,
2009). Thus, most of the stories that the family construct is expressed through totalizing
identity statements such as “I am a pastor’s (spouse, kid)”, these dominant stories are also
reinforced by cultural and social narratives that the family experience as real and true
(Duvall & Young, 2017). The pastoral family usually receives narratives from their
congregation, their ecclesiastic organization, and the scripture (Richardson, 2005; Croft &
Croft, 2013; Habeck, 1983) which are in constant reinforcement by the convey of the
expectations of a ‘pastoral family’. However, on many occasions, pastors and their families,
just like any other individual, are unaware of such impact. The identity that most pastors
and their families construct revolves around at least three general topics: the family as the
moral-ideal model, the family as servants and caregivers of their congregation, and the
spiritual foundation of the family structure (Pooler, 2011; Carroll, 2006; Croft & Croft,
2013).
The repetitive narratives among pastoral families will not only reinforce their identity but
also hinder their attention to potential conflicts and dysregulations in the family, in fact, it
has been noticed that the role identity that pastors and their families construct becomes the
main barrier that prevents their knowledge about their own psychological, emotional, and
family problems (Pooler, 2011; Hays & Payne, 2020). Pastoral families in particular are
expected to believe that problems are the result of spiritual struggles and thus create the
perception that they have less need for care or support (Pooler, 2011; Lau, 2017; Croft &
Croft 2013).
Pastoral families usually fear self-disclose since it is the opposite to what is expected from
them (Pooler, 2011; Maina et al., 2018). In this context, NFT could be identified as the
most suitable approach with pastoral families; from the therapeutic not-knowing position
the therapist welcomes the family much like a skilled host instead of an expert. This can be
extremely helpful in reducing feelings of shame (Duvall & Young, 2017).
On the other hand, NFT provides a framework of non-pathologize the client’s and family’s
experience. Stigma plays a powerful role in the willingness to receive psychological
assistance among pastors and their families, the idea of ‘having a problem’ creates conflict
in their grounded beliefs about their role and vocation (Avent et al., 2015). Therefore, when
family members begin to tell their stories in a “usual and common” ways with the
perception of not having a problem or being a problem, but struggling against a problem
(Duvall & Young, 2017; Trados, 2019) could reduce stigma and foster openness and
flexibility to healthier stories.
Finally, the pastor’s spouse and children are usually neglected and isolated due to the
pastor’s role, they usually lack a safe environment to convey their feelings, thoughts, and
even frustrations (Maina et al.,2018; Hayes, 2010). The NFT approach is characterized by
giving voice to the unheard and promoting empowerment (Trados, 2019) which allows
family members, especially those who are isolated to share, externalize, and give power to
reauthor their stories.
Implications and conclusions
Pastoral families are systems where their external demands and expectations make them
unique in their composition. SFT effectively addresses the understanding of family
functionality, structure, and potential dysfunction among this group, providing a deep
outlook of the relation of structural components of family and external stressors, such as
ministry-related issues. However, the theory in its nature moves to a pathological
conceptualization of family creating a risk of resistance among this group. NFT on the
other hand, proposes a less intrusive and pathologizing method to address family issues,
including the construction of family identity. In this context, SFT serves to assess the
family's functionality and prevent possible dysfunction, while NFT allows families to
engage in conversations that may decrease resistance and promote change.
Thus, the integration of these two models could enhance the perception of family change
among pastoral families. Families can identify dysfunctional interactional patterns through
the narratives they use, restructure hierarchy and formulate new roles and rules by reauthoring their stories, allowing members to feel safe, empowered, and heard.
From the therapist's perspective, the addition of NFT techniques to SFT’s structural
conceptualization will provide to the therapist an organized framework to assess the family,
and strategies to promote awareness and recognition of dysfunctionality from a
collaborative position.
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