Admission structured as a rite of passage combining rituals and constructivist therapy

Design · All designs
Evidence · 2 claims (1 for, 1 against) · 1 study (1 design), q2 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 2 claims rest on one study

Description

The article's organizing pattern treats residential admission as a rite of passage rather than an event, integrating Van Gennep's phases with constructivist therapy. The author's stated conjecture is that "rituals and constructivist therapies comprise a complementary means of helping youths to adjust to residential treatment." The pattern frames admission as separation from a former context, experimentation with new ways of thinking and behaving, and completion marked by ritual or celebration of the youth's arrival and goals.

Design Implications

Context

Requirements

• Admission treated as a gradual therapeutic process in which workers examine needs, form relationships, involve significant social supports, and celebrate arrival

Constraints

• The article notes Menses and Durrant's rite-of-passage view was limited by its holistic treatment of residential treatment, and that rituals' importance depends on whether the context is forced or natural and the meaning attached

Target Learners

• youths entering residential treatment and their families

Target Goals

• experiencing admission as a comfortable transition
• developing new meanings about self and problems

Claims

• Cmr Context Metaphor Relationship Model [+M]
• Workers and administrators who were presented with the CMR model viewed it as a comfortable transition into residential treatment [+W]
• Youth workers at the treatment program treated admissions as a sudden procedural event rather than a gradual therapeutic process [-W]

Related Patterns

Examples

• Conduct admissions as a gradual therapeutic process examining needs, forming relationships, involving supports, and celebrating arrival

Key Sources

• Williams, Paul A. (1995). Developing a Model to Ease Youths' Transitions into Residential Treatment: Integrating Constructivist Therapies and Youth Care Work into a Contextually Relevant Rite of Passage. Nova Southeastern University. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED398498

Page metadata

Field	Value
type	design
id	admission-as-rite-of-passage-pattern
title	Admission structured as a rite of passage combining rituals and constructivist therapy
description	The article's organizing pattern treats residential admission as a rite of passage rather than an event, integrating Van Gennep's phases with constructivist therapy.
status	review
generated	by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-09-26
trust	unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
sources	1 — williams-1995

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