Personal Construct Theory and Paediatric Health Care

Abstract

Kelly chose to write his Psychology of Personal Constructs (1955) at a deliberately high level of abstraction. Hence his theory is replete with implications for therapeutic practice but decidedly short on ‘how to do it’ instructions. This article uses a series of clinical examples to demonstrate how the principles of personal construct theory can be applied to the challenges faced by young people in paediatric healthcare settings. These illustrations of both assessment techniques and psychotherapeutic approach offer a taste of practice-based evidence in a field where formal empirical evidence of effectiveness is still in short supply.