Jackson, Emma ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3656-7060 (2026) A discussion of the potential of co-creative research through a TA lens. Transactional Analysis Journal. (In Press)

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Abstract

Research has the potential to play a vital role in the development and credibility of Transactional Analysis (TA) as a theory and practice in psychotherapy. For TA practitioners, engaging with and contributing to research fosters evidence-based practice, improves client outcomes, and ensures the continued evolution of TA theory. The research the author is currently, and has historically been, engaged with has had a focus on social justice issues and has involved working collaboratively alongside historically marginalised communities. This experience has allowed the author to develop an understanding of positionality and power within research dynamics and provoked an interest in, and concern for, the realities of research participants, as well as a want to further disrupt traditional ideas around research procedures and methodologies.

When considering this special issue through the lens of an expansive experience of social justice research, coupled with an understanding of the ethical underpinning of the cocreative TA concept of ‘we-ness’, the author began to consider who decides what is a research ‘problem’ and who decides the value of a solution. Due to limited empirical literature compared to other modalities, recent efforts (e.g., Cornell, 2008; Widdowson, 2010) have emphasised the necessity of building a robust TA research base. In this essay, it is contended that TA, with its principles of co-creativity, we-ness and contracting (Tudor & Summers, 2000; Sills, 2006), offers a rich setting to contribute to the ever-growing landscape of participatory and decolonised research. Therefore, fostering a research-informed culture among TA practitioners is not only beneficial but essential for the future sustainability and integrity of the modality.
With this in mind, this essay is an exploration of both the ethical considerations when conducting research with marginalised communities, and the potential of TA concepts in encouraging a co-creative and emancipatory research practice.

Item Type:	Article
Status:	In Press
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology > BF636 Applied psychology
School/Department:	School of Education, Language and Psychology
URI:	https://ray.yorksj.ac.uk/id/eprint/14025

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