Management

SOMATIC EXPERIENCING:

Writing an SE case study

M. Laurie Leitch, PhD, Director, FHE Research Program 1-08

The FHE is interested in encouraging faculty, students, and SEPs to conduct both quantitative outcome studies as well as case studies. Both can contribute to our need for an evidence-based practice. This set of guidelines is intended to help orient practitioners to the clinical case study. The guidelines will first provide some information about case studies in general. Second, a suggested format or protocol that is specific to SE is presented that can be used to write up a case study for publication. In section 3 human subjects protections are discussed. These protections are necessary to consider whenever clinical material will be presented for public audiences. A sample consent form is attached as well as journals that publish qualitative research, including case studies. Two single case study journal articles are referenced as examples of case studies of clinical treatment.

I. Case Studies:

In a case study the emphasis is on what, specifically, can be learned from the single case. A clinical case is chosen because it is believed that understanding that case may lead to a better understanding of either the methodology being used (in this case, SE) or to better theorizing about other cases that are similar (e.g., sexual abuse survivors). It is also possible to study a number of cases jointly (referred to as a collective case study) when there is interest in a specific phenomenon (e.g., domestic violence, veterans) and its responsiveness to a treatment intervention such as SE.

Case study is sometimes viewed as a small step which is useful in contributing to broader theory building about why a clinical intervention works. However, beyond their role in theorizing, case studies have a major benefit of providing rich, descriptive information that deepens and enriches the kind of information obtained...