CULTURAL DISSONANCE AMONG GENERATIONS: A SOLUTION-FOCUSED APPROACH WITH EAST ASIAN ELDERS AND THEIR FAMILIES

Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, Oct 2004 by Lee, Mo Yee, Mjelde-Mossey, LeeAnn

Facilitating the negotiation of diverse worldviews in a family is no small task but crucial to the success of addressing the problem of cultural dissonance in East Asian families. Solution-focused therapy accomplishes this by focusing on small changes and holding the family accountability for solutions. Holding individual family members accountable for solutions directs therapeutic conversation away from blaming talk to solution dialogue. Although solution dialogues cannot guarantee resolution of conflict, such efforts are more likely to enhance and sustain motivation for positive change (M. Y. Lee, 2003; Murphy & Baxter, 1997). Similarly, focusing on small change in terms of observable behaviors/interaction is more possible and manageable and consumes less energy (M. Y. Lee, Sebold, & Uken, 2003). Family members are usually encouraged when they experience successes, even small ones. Changing surface behaviors, such as greeting grandmother every morning or cooking an American breakfast versus a Korean breakfast is more attainable and creates less argument than focusing the therapeutic conversation on deep-rooted cultural differences between traditional and Euro-American, middle-class values/practices. De Shazer (personal communication, September 5, 2001) reminds the therapist, "Too often people who want to learn SFBT [solution-focused behavioral therapy] fall into the trap of not being able to see that the difficulty is to stay on the surface when the temptation to look behind and beneath is at its strongest."

Family Has the Answer: Utilizing Cultural Strengths and Resources

A fundamental assumption of solution-focused therapy is that all people, regardless of their level of functioning, have strengths, resources, and competencies, although they may not be using them, may be under-using them, or may have forgotten that they have them (Berg & Miller, 1992). The task for the solution-focused therapist is to assist families in remembering, noticing, amplifying, sustaining, and reinforcing the identified cultural strengths and resources regardless of how small and/or infrequent they may be (Berg & Jaya, 1993). Exception questions and coping questions are simple tools to assist the family to identify unnoticed strengths or resources (de Shazer, 1985). Examples of useful questions to address problem of cultural dissonance are: "When was the last time that you (Mrs. Song) felt respected and valued by your family? What happened at that time? What is different about those times?" "When was the last time you found the advice of your grandma helpful? What did she say? How was it helpful?" "What is the difference between grandma's helpful advice and advice that is not so helpful?" Example of questions that solicit cultural strengths are: "Suppose another Korean family face similar problems that your family is having now but they are able to better handle the situation, what may that family be doing that is not happening in your family? What helpful advice would someone from that family share with your family?"