Increasingly, couple therapists are called to promote equity in their clinical practice, yet little research illuminates the intricacy of doing this work. The purpose of this study was to clarify the clinical processes involved when therapists facilitate a more equitable balance of power in couple relationships while utilizing a sociocontextual frame of reference. It is part of larger research explicating Socio-Emotional Relationship Therapy (SERT), an approach that places equity and social justice at the core. The sample included 72 SERT sessions with nine heterosoexual couples in which there was an observable power difference between partners. Using Charmaz’s (2014, Constructing grounded theory: A practical guide through qualitative analysis, Sage) grounded theory coding, theoretical sampling, and interpretive methods, we examined therapist/client responses over multiple sessions to explain shifts in the couples’ power balance. Analysis identified sociocultural attunement to vulnerability as the core clinical process and detailed five sociocultural expressions: socialized vulnerability, socialized invulnerability, reactive (in)vulnerability, reactive vulnerability, and shared vulnerability. Shifts in power involved each of three therapist stances: (a) identification of the societal power context of vulnerability, (b) therapist leadership and responsive persistence, and (c) facilitating mutual sociocultural attunement to vulnerability to promote shared relational responsibility and influence. Implications address the connections between power and vulnerability in couples work and what therapists can do to more effectively facilitate relational equity.

中文翻译：

---

夫妻治疗中脆弱性的社会文化协调：改变异性恋关系中权力过程的支点

越来越多的夫妻治疗师被要求在临床实践中促进公平，但很少有研究阐明这项工作的复杂性。本研究的目的是阐明当治疗师在利用社会背景参考框架的同时促进夫妻关系中更公平的权力平衡时所涉及的临床过程。它是阐明社会情感关系疗法 (SERT) 的大型研究的一部分，这种方法将公平和社会正义置于核心地位。样本包括 72 次 SERT 会议，其中有 9 对异性恋伴侣，其中伴侣之间存在明显的权力差异。使用Charmaz（2014，构建 扎根 理论： 定性实践 指南） 分析, Sage) 扎根理论编码、理论抽样和解释方法，我们检查了治疗师/客户在多个会话中的反应，以解释夫妻权力平衡的变化。分析将脆弱性的社会文化协调确定为核心临床过程，并详细说明了五种社会文化表达：社会化脆弱性、社会化无懈可击、反应性（不）脆弱性、反应性脆弱性和共享脆弱性。权力转移涉及三种治疗师立场中的每一种：（a）识别脆弱性的社会权力背景，（b）治疗师领导力和响应性坚持，以及（c）促进相互社会文化对脆弱性的协调，以促进共同的关系责任和影响。