Saving Satir: Contemporary Perspectives on the Change Process Model.

Virginia Satir continues to be a highly influential figure in family therapy. The summation of her decades of work with families, the Satir growth model (SGM), remains a relevant therapeutic approach that is still practiced by many. This narrative review sought to examine (a) the core therapeutic methods developed by Satir for working with families, and (b) the empirical evidence to support the use of such methods. The author reviewed both firsthand and secondhand accounts of Satir's model of therapy, as well as extant research. Results from four included studies lend equivocal support for the continued use of Satir's approaches in contemporary family therapy. Implications for clinicians include the need for further refinement and systematization of the SGM. Also, researchers must empirically test Satir's methods using stronger methodology with larger and more diverse samples. In an age where evidence-based practice has become standard, all stakeholders must actively work to bolster the support for Virginia Satir's work, lest her important contributions to family therapy be forgotten due to insufficient evidence.