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Case managers’ perspectives on the therapeutic alliance: a qualitative study

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Abstract

Purpose

In order to understand the nature of the therapeutic alliance in intensive case management, this study used qualitative methods to assess the dynamics of the case managers’ relationships with their consumers by examining their perspectives on their own and their consumers’ likeability, how helpful consumers perceive them to be, as well as their expectations for their relationships with their consumers.

Methods

The study employed content analysis of open-ended responses from 49 intensive case managers about their consumers.

Results

From case managers’ responses, four themes emerged describing the dynamics of the case manager/consumer relationship: motivation, monitoring, creating dependency, and being there.

Conclusions

The current qualitative findings suggest that current constructions and measures of the therapeutic alliance developed in psychotherapy research are not fully capturing the ways in which the unique structure and constraints of intensive case management influence relationships between workers and consumers.

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded in part by NIMH Grant RO3MH52734, a formula grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Health, and a faculty research award from Bryn Mawr College, all to Leslie B. Alexander.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bryn Mawr College, Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research, 300 Airdale Road, Bryn Mawr, PA, 19010, USA

    Sara Bressi Nath & Leslie B. Alexander

  2. School of Social Policy and Practice, University of Pennsylvania, 3701 Locust Walk, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA

    Phyllis L. Solomon

Authors
  1. Sara Bressi Nath
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  2. Leslie B. Alexander
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  3. Phyllis L. Solomon
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Correspondence to Sara Bressi Nath.

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Bressi Nath, S., Alexander, L.B. & Solomon, P.L. Case managers’ perspectives on the therapeutic alliance: a qualitative study. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 47, 1815–1826 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-012-0483-z

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