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Using scaling to gauge progress through the week

Video Type: In Practice

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Summary

Meena is a 24-year-old woman who was adopted at birth by parents of East Indian origin after they arrived in North America as immigrants. Meena's father died when Meena was in her late teens. She has been experiencing stresses at work, as well as ongoing tensions with her mother. Meena says her mother regularly urges Meena not to let go of Indian traditions, and dispenses often unsolicited advice. She also has a tendency to “dismiss” Meena at times, which leads to Meena feeling hurt and underestimated. Meena feels conflicted—while she cherishes her East Indian roots, and prefers an intimate relationship with her mother, the tensions between them often get in the way. Recently Meena had a dinner with her mother and her boyfriend Jeremy that went better than usual. (*Note that more than one graduate student plays Meena in these roleplays.) In this segment of the Slowing the image down excerpt in this chapter, a scaling question is used to gauge changes that have occurred in the past week. By assigning number values to events, we can determine if things have gotten better or worse. If worse, this at least provides a platform for speculating about what would need to change to nudge things in a more favorable direction. When things have gotten better, scaling questions provide a rich opportunity to assess progress made as well as speculating on next steps. Here, David uses a scaling question early in a session with Meena as a vehicle for exploring events in the past week. How does he ensure that Meena is clear on the purpose of the question and on the significance of the extremes (“0” and “10”) of the scale? How does he use the scale as a vehicle for exploring what she did differently? To what extent does Meena seem to initially “own” the notion that she actually contributed to the changes? Would you say this shifts as the conversation unfolds, and if so, what do you see and hear from her that tells you she has taken on greater ownership of her successes? What aspects of this practice might you have done similarly/differently? For Meena, the events of the past week don't initially stand out as all that different from events of previous ones. The scaling question helps to tease out the difference, however, and to quantify it by putting a number to it. This point of reference supplies a clear cut indicator of progress, which can be affirming and motivating, and it also provides a reference point against which to gauge future developments. Note that a scaling question alone will not necessarily help clients take ownership of the favorable developments they report. Here Meena initially concludes that she and her mom just grew “tired” of their battles—not a description that features herself as making any active choices to do things differently. Without the follow-up inquiry that begins here and continues in the excerpt in this chapter called Evoking thick description of preferred developments with a stylized question, Meena might continue to conclude that it was fate that granted she and her mother some relief from their conflict. David acknowledges the "relief” Meena feels from growing tired of the conflict, but continues to be curious as well about what she did to accomplish this relief. As this excerpt comes to a close, Meena's languaging of the events has already begun to shift—she is talking about “stepping back” from the exchanges with her mother. What was depicted as a consequence of fatigue is now emerging as the product of active and repeatable efforts to respond differently in her mother's company.

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