Principles of Therapeutic Intervention with Elders and Their Families

Six principles are offered to guide helping professionals in their interactions with elders and their families, and it is hoped this set of principles will stimulate further discussion and debate relative to those processes related to collaboration and coordination.

Abstract

Summary Despite appeals for greater collaboration and coordination in the care of elders between family members and formal service providers, the realization of this goal has proven elusive. One element that appears to be critical to successful collaborative efforts is the ability of direct service providers to mediate between formal and informal networks and to mobilize the strengths inherent in each. In this context, six principles are offered to guide helping professionals in their interactions with elders and their families. 11-ustrations of the application of these practice principles in interventions with later life families are presented. The principles discussed are ongoing assessment; ownership or locus of decision-making; interventive parsimony; clarification of perceptions, expectations, and roles; levels of participation; and the use of professional authority. This set of principles is a starting point which, it is hoped, will stimulate further discussion and debate relative to those processes which characterize the interactions of practitioners with elders and their families.