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Technological advances provide tremendous opportunities for couple and family interventions to overcome logistical, financial, and stigma-related barriers to treatment access. Given technology's ability to facilitate, augment, or at times even substitute for face-to-face interventions, it is important to consider the appropriate role of different technologies in treatment and how that may vary across specific instances of technology use. To that end, this article reviews the potential contributions of telemental health (aka, telehealth; e.g., videoconferencing to remotely deliver real-time services) and asynchronous behavioral intervention technologies (BITs; e.g., apps, web-based programs) for couple and family interventions. Design considerations-such as software and hardware requirements and recommendations, characteristics of intended users, ways to maximize engagement, and tips for integrating therapists/coaches-are included for both types of technology-based intervention. We also present suggestions for the most effective recruitment and evaluation strategies for technology-based couple and family interventions. Finally, we present legal and ethical issues that are especially pertinent when integrating technology into couple and family interventions. (PsycINFO Database Record [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Federal regulations, ethical standards, and state laws governing ethics do not adequately address important issues in couple and family research. Including multiple family members, particularly dependent minors, in research requires the special application of fundamental ethical issues, such as confidentiality, privacy, and informed consent. The sensitive, com mingled nature of couple and family information necessitates clear policies about data ownership and disclosure. Researchers need to have respect for the family as a unit and to evaluate benefits versus harms for the family as well as for individuals. This article highlights areas of potential concern and ambiguity related to abuse reporting and Certificates of Confidentiality and also addresses ethical issues with observational data, intervention studies, longitudinal designs, and computer-assisted research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

J. F. Alexander et al. (1995) provide a thoughtful and comprehensive framework for conceptualizing the process of developing, evaluating, and using observational coding systems. In this article, the authors attempt to link the framework of Alexander et al. with that proposed by F. Floyd (1989), and they discuss how observational methods may contribute to the advancement of family psychology. They discuss specific issues and recommendations that they believe will contribute to moving the field of behavioral observation forward, including, for example, the ascendance of global over microanalytic coding systems, the importance of considering effects of gender and ethnicity of coders on coding, difficulties in conducting observational research and analyzing observational data, and the persistent problem of capturing low base-rate behaviors using observational methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author recommends a systematic, context-sensitive method for using observation to increase understanding of how change actually occurs in couples and family therapy. In this method, a task analysis of in-session performances on a specific task leads to the building of a model of the change process. This approach is exemplified in the process of in-session conflict resolution in couples therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]