Date
1-9-2024
Department
School of Behavioral Sciences
Degree
Doctor of Education in Community Care and Counseling (EdD)
Chair
Thomas C. Vail
Keywords
Couple therapy, Emotionally Focused Therapy, Chinese culture, Emotions, Chinese therapist
Disciplines
Counseling | Rehabilitation and Therapy
Recommended Citation
Wang, Yifan, "Effectiveness of Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) with Chinese Couple Clients: From the Chinese EFT Therapists' Cultural Lens" (2024). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 5153.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/5153
Abstract
The purpose of this phenomenological study is to understand the Chinese EFT (Emotionally Focused Therapy) therapists’ experiences of working with Chinese couples in EFT sessions, as well as to discover how the cultural factors play a role in the effectiveness of EFT use with Chinese couples. This study was conducted by finding out 10 EFT-oriented therapists and analyzing via online interviews their experiences of working with Chinese couples. The theories guiding this study are based on Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT). One of the founding therapists of this approach is Dr. Sue Johnson. EFT is heavily influenced by attachment theory, which was first developed by John Bowlby. This study also reviews EFT’s major theoretical constructs—emotional, systematic, humanistic and experiential theories. The data was collected by doing semi-structured interviews virtually with 10 Chinese EFT-oriented therapists in China. The methods of analysis of the data was done by discovering themes or phenomena through their significant statements, then analyzing and evaluating the themes to distill the essence of the phenomenon.
