What is the evidence so far? A literature review
Research is building new insights with little steps and connecting the bits and pieces. This is often a slow, and time consuming process and involves efforts of many persons. As a researcher, you always continue the work of others.
So, in this early phase that my research is in, I need to get a good overview of the studies and evidence that is out there. In 2014, a review was published written in German. This is was very useful starting point. In addition, I wanted to know what was published after 2014 and which publications on the application of systemic work in organisation were not included in this review.
I started a structured and systematic literature search for two reasons: 1) for myself, to read what other researchers have already written on this topic and 2) for others interested in this topic, to have a clear and condensed overview of the current studies, written in English. I searched for research publications on the systemic constellation method and included all types of publications (journals, books, papers, reports) and multiple languages (English, German, Dutch, Spanish, etc).
Up to now, the literature search resulted in over 80 publications, of which about 20 publications could be identified as empirical research publications. ‘Empirical’ means that the study contained measured observations. In most cases, these studies measured satisfaction or liking reported by participants after participation at a systemic organisation constellation session. Studies that measured an effect on individual, team or organisation performance appeared to be scares. Only one publication contained a measurement before and after the organisation constellation session and contained an intervention group (who participated in the constellstion) and control group (who did not participate) . A growing list of studies is summarized here.
In August 2021 the literature review was published!
A review of the scientific literature on family constellations was published in February 2021 (link)
