Originally from:

AAA Handbook on Mediation - Third Edition

MARRYING POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY TO MEDIATION: USING APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY AND SOLUTION-FOCUSED COUNSELING TO IMPROVE THE PROCESS

Jeffrey L. McClellan

I. Introduction
Positive analyses of mediation have been found in numerous studies of divorce mediation, community mediation, school mediation, parent-child mediation and organizational/labor mediation.  In a recent survey, even corporate counsel have said that mediation is their favorite process. 
Researchers of mediation in the criminal context have found that mediation has performed extremely well on a number of satisfaction scales, some of which are: whether the system was fair, whether the case was handled satisfactorily, whether the parties had an opportunity to tell their story, whether the parties’ opinions were adequately considered, whether the judge or mediator was fair, whether the offender was held accountable, whether an apology or offering of forgiveness was given, whether the outcome was fair, and whether the outcome was considered to be satisfactory.