Cinemeducation

This article discusses an innovative approach to educating healthcare professionals in family systems theory, namely the use of selected clips from popular movies on video. Movie clips provide powerful and entertaining ways to expose learners to such family therapy concepts as the family life cycle, differentiation, coalition and homeostasis. Movie clips also serve to broaden awareness of learners to such family related issues as ethnicity, class, domestic violence, incest, drug addiction and sibling relationships. Videotape selections are used in two separate formats: 1) to stimulate guided discussions and 2) to set the stage for role-plays. We present six illustrations that demonstrate these two formats. We discuss practical points in using cinemeducation and provide a detailed “cinemography” which identifies movie scenes on video that can be readily incorporated into family systems training.