The Perceptions for Healthy Family Functioning:

A Comparison between Therapists and Families

Abstract

　　This study compared the concepts of healthy family functioning held by therapists with those of families in Japan. A Japanese translation of a previously developed English questionnaire, which measures perceptions of healthy family functioning in three dimensions (cohesion, adaptability, and communication) on the family circumplex model, was given to 106 therapists and 347 family members. Following the manner of the previous studies, the respondents were asked to rate 34 aspects of healthy family functioning on the Likert Scale, and rank in order their top seven choices in terms of important aspects for healthy family functioning.

　　The findings of this study supported the results from the previous research on the perceptions of therapists and families in America. Therapists tended to value adaptability, whereas family members held cohesion and family unity to be more important. Especially in the ranking of the aspects, therapists ranked aspects of adaptability such as “flexibility,” “rules,” and “roles” higher than those of family members.

　　In this study, these results, as well as their implications, are discussed.