Citation

Sousa L, Ribeiro C, Rodrigues S. J. Community Appl. Soc. Psychol. 2007; 17(1): 53-66.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/casp.875

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Multi-problem poor families have been characterized as dysfunctional and chaotic, and problem-centred interventions have been developed. However, the activation of families' strengths has shown itself to be an important tool for intervention, hence the relevance of promoting the incorporation of a strengths-focused approach. So, it becomes important to determine to what extent practitioners are thinking of incorporating a strengths-focused approach when working with these families. To achieve this goal, a semi-structured interview was administered to 23 practitioners. The findings suggest that practitioners are able to identify strengths but do not think in a strengths-focused way. The main obstacles are: ambiguity in the definition of strengths, a focus on problems, lack of confidence in the possibility of improvement in the lives of families. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.