"Voluntary, anonymous, confidential and more accurate"
During af-x® Therapy, practitioners fully
explain the importance and simplicity of the efficacy study
research system (ESR) and ask each individual client if they
wish to participate.
About six months after completing their sessions, af-x
Practitioners post a brief questionnaire to participating
ex-clients. The completed questionnaire is then sent in the
reply paid envelope provided to the National AF-X Research
Organisation (N.A.R.O.) in Sydney. This way the completed
forms are kept strictly confidential and anonymous.
The information gained from these simple questionnaires is
collated by N.A.R.O. into statistical data and anonymous comments
on behalf of the Council for Affectology Studies (C.A.S.).
The Council is the body responsible for monitoring and ensuring
the professional standards of its registered practitioners
and the effectiveness of af-x Therapy overall. N.A.R.O.
sends participating practitioners regular statistical reports
that indicate the level of success being experienced by their
ex-clients and any relevant, but of course anonymous, comments
on their performance.
This important data more accurately shows how successful ex-clients
have been over time and is used to monitor the professional
standards of each registered practitioner. It also provides
centralised statistics on just how effective af-x Therapy
is overall and is the basis for the claim that this approach
to therapy really does work.
Below are some of the more commonly asked questions about
the ESR system.
"What is the efficacy research system exactly?"
"Do I have to participate in the ESR system?"
"What happens to my name and address details
if I take part?"
"Who runs it?"
"Why do it?"
"Why is this particular system so special?"
"What does it show?"
"Why is the questionnaire so brief and simple?"
"Who does the ESR system and the results help?"
"What do you do with the results?"
"What if I don't want my practitioner to know
what I report?"
"What if I do want my practitioner to know about
my personal results?"
"Why all the secrecy, why the anonymity?"
"Is it recognised by Government Authorities?"
"What is the efficacy study research
(ESR) system exactly?"
Immediate in-session client feedback and therapist judgements
are most often inaccurate, so the ESR system provides a method
of research that allows us to more accurately measure just
how successful this therapy is over time. Ex-clients are only
asked for feedback after about six months has elapsed from
the end of their therapy sessions.
Back to Questions
"Do I have to participate in the ESR system?"
Participation is strictly on a voluntary basis; however after
the system has been fully explained we find that clients are
more than comfortable with being involved.
Back to Questions
"What happens to my name and address after
I've given it to my practitioner?"
About six months after your sessions your practitioner will
send you:
a. A covering letter.
b. A simple and easy questionnaire that you're asked to complete
(only 2 or 3 questions).
c. A freepost envelope addressed to the National AF-X Research
Organisation (N.A.R.O.).
When your completed questionnaire and others are returned
to N.A.R.O., statistical data is compiled and sent on to the
relevant practitioner. Even if you do include your name on
the questionnaire, it will not reach your practitioner and
N.A.R.O. does not at any stage have your address details.
Back to Questions
"Who runs it?"
The National AF-X Research Organisation (N.A.R.O.) is the
research arm of the Council for Affectology Studies (C.A.S.)
in Australia. Its role is to simply gather and relay feedback
information in the form of tabulated data, in order for the
Council to assess the effectiveness of af-x Therapy
overall and to monitor the professional standards of its registered
practitioners. N.A.R.O. also provides this feedback data to
individual practitioners, however as with the Council, any
client names attached to the "raw" responses are not revealed.
Back to Questions
"Why do it?"
af-x sessions are just the very beginning of the process
for change at subconscious level, therefore af-x Practitioners
understand the importance of not "pressuring" clients for
information (success or otherwise), during or straight after
therapy. We know that in-session client feedback and therapist
judgements are often very inaccurate in determining the long-term
results of any therapy.
This is why the ESR system is so important in providing feedback
on the actual results experienced by af-x clients
well after the therapy. Because of the "private" nature of
the af-x approach it is the only way practitioners
get to see the results of their work.
Back to Questions
"Why is this particular system so special?"
Some other therapies have been known to conduct short-term
research, but none that we know of conducts our type of feedback
system on a permanent basis. Many therapists assume that if
"patients" or clients don't return then they must be "cured"
but af-x Practitioners often see clients who have
been through many other therapies without success. The previous
therapists that some of our clients have seen don't know about
this because they don't have any accurate system of client
feedback.
All qualified af-x Practitioners must permanently
participate in the ESR system in order to maintain qualifications
and permission to use the "af-x" title.
Back to Questions
"What does it show?"
The ESR system tells us about the long-term results you experience
after your three af-x sessions. Therapeutic history
is full of instances where people have reported feeling "great",
"relieved," "relaxed" or "released" soon after the completion
of therapy, only to revert to their "old ways" as time goes
by. With af-x Therapy we don't try to create any temporary
"euphoria".
Sometimes people feel little difference after their af-x
sessions, but the subconscious change process they started
in therapy has brought about significant, sometimes even miraculous
improvement over time. This is important and useful information
because it validates the unique and very important "privacy"
aspect of the af-x approach. It clearly shows that
eventual success doesn't depend on how you feel at the end
of your af-x sessions but on what sort of positive
results you experience later on.
Back to Questions
"Why is the questionnaire so brief and
simple?"
This sort of questionnaire gives ex-clients the opportunity
to really think back to the personal reasons they went to
af-x Therapy in the first place. "How did I feel back
then?", "What was life like?", "What is different and how
do I feel now?" Doing this sometimes helps people to notice
for the first time any subtle changes that may have taken
place gradually but have actually had a big impact on how
they feel now.
You are the only one that can really judge how successful
you've been and sometimes this is hard to describe except
as a general sense of improvement. The questionnaire includes
a few questions with 'tick-boxes' to help people with this
and also has an area for general comments. In this area people
are free to provide as much detail as they wish about the
symptoms they've overcome, what else they've experienced as
a result of the therapy and any comments they wish to make
about their practitioner.
Back to Questions
"Who does the ESR system and the results
help?"
All of us! It helps you to assess (perhaps) forgotten subtle
changes that may have taken place over an extended period.
It helps the Council for Affectology Studies (C.A.S.) monitor
the quality of work of its registered members and conduct
developmental practitioner training. And it helps with the
continual refinement and improvement of af-x Therapy
that will ultimately benefit future clients.
Back to Questions
"What do you do with the results?"
The National AF-X Research Organisation (N.A.R.O.) gathers
and relays feedback information in the form of tabulated data
to the Council for Affectology Studies (C.A.S.). The Council
uses this confidential and anonymous information to assess
the overall effectiveness of af-x Therapy and to monitor
the professional standards of registered practitioners. Individual
practitioners receive data on a regular basis that only shows:
a. The percentage of questionnaires their clients have returned.
b. The percentage success rate calculated from those returns.
c. Anonymous client comments about the practitioner's and
the therapy's performance.
Back to Questions
"What if I DON'T want my practitioner
to know what I report?"
Practitioners do get to see what ex-clients have said in their
feedback but this is always provided to them as an anonymous
list of general comments, your name does NOT appear on any
of the data sent to the practitioner. However if you don't
want your practitioner to see your comments just note this
prominently on your completed questionnaire. Your feedback
is always kept strictly confidential and is very important
in helping to monitor the professional standards of af-x
Practitioners.
Back to Questions
"What if I DO want my practitioner to
know about my personal results?"
That's fine, but it cannot be under the formal ESR feedback
system. You are invited to contact your practitioner directly
if you wish to let him or her know.
Back to Questions
"Why all the secrecy, why the anonymity?"
It's a proven fact that people have a tendency to "massage"
the truth of reporting a little bit (or a lot) depending on
several factors. This includes whether they "liked the therapist"
or not, or their own immediate expectations and immediate
experiences. This system removes those tendencies because
you know that your practitioner will not know that it was
you who provided specific feedback.
Back to Questions
"Is it recognised by Government Authorities?"
The Council for Affectology Studies (C.A.S.) is fundamentally
interested in the recognition of the thousands of clients
who have been helped by this treatment. This is a main priority.
They are working tirelessly to lobby government health bodies
to recognise af-x for the highly-successful approach
that it is, and it is this very research system that is greatly
assisting in these efforts.
Back to Questions
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