Conducting psychotherapeutic research with Free Association Narrative Interview

Authors

  • Jasenka Lukac-Greenwood
  • Sofie Bager-Charleson

Keywords:

Relational research: Reflexivity; Working with unconscious processes; Practitioner-research; Psychoanalytically informed research

Abstract

Deciding on methodology and method can be a complex and anxiety provoking task for new researchers and doctoral students. This is a reflexive, first person account of a doctoral journey addressing some key junctions and critical decision-making processes during a doctoral project. The article captures personal and professional considerations throughout a qualitative study into female therapists’ experiences of working with male clients who were sexually attracted to them. The study employed Hollway and Jefferson’s (2008) hybrid method Free Association Narrative Interview (FANI) which involved multiple unstructured interviews with five female participants. FANI offers a framework within which researchers underlying motivations about the research can be explored. This paper aimed to show how FANI method offers a frame for bridging a practitioner-researcher divide (Archard, 2018) by providing an opportunity for practitioners to use their full range of skills and competencies from their clinical work and apply it for the purposes of research.

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Published

09/24/2024

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Conducting psychotherapeutic research with Free Association Narrative Interview. (2024). European Journal for Qualitative Research in Psychotherapy, 14. https://ejqrp.org/index.php/ejqrp/article/view/299