Stimulated recall interviews: How can the research interview contribute to new therapeutic practices?

Abstract

The subjective experiences of participants in couple therapy have been explored through Stimulated Recall Interviews (SRIs), in which both clients and therapists come individually to watch video clips of their therapy sessions. We believe SRIs offer a good resource for Practice Oriented Research (POR) by promoting meaningful, flexible interplay between scientific research and clinical practice. Team members have different roles, either as "insiders" or "outsiders" of the therapeutic setting. The potential benefits of these interviews are illustrated by a case study conducted within the Relational Mind research project, in which SRIs helped to promote the emergence of reflections. SRIs, hitherto regarded as a research tool, showed great intervention potential: clients used it as means to gain insight about themselves while therapists used it to reflect on how best to proceed. This study could serve as a starting point for applying SRIs in POR.