Internships for Future Faculty: Meeting the Career Goals of the Next Generation of Educators in Marriage and Family Therapy

A key component of a doctoral education in marriage and family therapy (MFT) is the completion of an internship. Virtually all MFT doctoral internships are focused on advanced clinical practice and often are located in agencies unconnected with an academic setting. This article describes an MFT doctoral internship specifically designed to foster the skills needed as a faculty member. The primary purpose of this "future faculty" internship is to expose doctoral interns to faculty life, including participation in graduate teaching, clinical supervision, research, and faculty service—while still meeting typical clinical requirements. Results of semistructured qualitative interviews with five doctoral interns associated with the site are reported. Guidelines for the development of other doctoral internships designed for future MFT faculty members are discussed.     

Toward a Theory of Public Relations Practitioners’ Own Conflict: Work Versus Life

This study took a first step to build a theory understanding public relations practitioners’ work–life balance. Through a national sample of Public Relations Society of America members, we examined what factors influence practitioners’ perceptions of work–life conflict and what kind of impact such perceived work–life conflict may have on their income and career path. Analysis of online survey data of 820 practitioners found that a more family–supportive organizational work environment overall would minimize practitioners’ reported work–life conflict. Gender did matter, especially in explaining strain-based conflict perceived by practitioners. Last, women whose career was interrupted earned significantly more than those whose career was not.     

Characteristics of effective providers of marital and family therapy in rural mental health settings

Characteristics of effective providers of marital and family therapy (MFT) in rural mental health settings were investigated. The survey sample included 74 members of the National Association for Rural Mental Health who, through a modified Delphi process, created a composite picture of effective MFT providers. The findings yielded six major rank-ordered characteristics of effective MFT providers in rural mental health settings, with effective skills in MFT ranked first. Rural community understanding, appreciation and participation ranked second. Specific competencies contributing to each major characteristic were also identified and are discussed. Recommendations for use of this information are provided.     

Career Counseling From the Counselee Perspective: Analysis of Feedback Questionnaires

The effectiveness of career counseling as perceived by counselees was measured using evaluation questionnaires. The results showed that 75% of the respondents rated the career counseling they received as satisfactory. A systematic difference was found between satisfaction with counseling as a result of the enhancement of the counselees' personal understanding and satisfaction as a result of the assistance they perceived in decision making. Respondents were more positive concerning their gains in self-understanding than about the help they felt they were given in arriving at a career decision. On the average, counselees rated discussions with the counselor as more important in counseling than were objective tests, interest inventories or vocational information. Respondents who reported that counseling helped them in both their personal and career problems were more satisfied than those who reported being helped solely in either their personal problems or their career decisions. The theoretical and practical implications of these results for career counseling are discussed.     

THE AAMFT-HEAD START TRAINING PARTNERSHIP PROJECT: ENHANCING MFT CAPACITIES BEYOND THE FAMILY SYSTEM

This paper summarizes the experience of a two-year project to promote partnerships between 12 graduate Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) training programs and their 12 local Head Start partners. The American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) awarded 9 grants to MFT-Head Start partnerships that had established relationships with each other prior to the project. Three MFT-Head Start pairs that had no preexisting relationship but wanted to develop one received planning grants. The partnership project provided an exciting opportunity for MFT faculty and interns to integrate family systems theory into larger organizational settings and to enhance the capacity of MFTs to serve disadvantaged, low-income, culturally diverse families and the community agencies that work with them. Preparing MFT students to intervene and respond systemically both in organizations and with the families they serve represents a viable alternative to more traditional approaches to MFT that limit the focus to the family system. Survey results and interview data reflect the rich experiences of MFT faculty and supervisors, MFT interns, and Head Start staff. Implementation issues are discussed and recommendations are made to improve the collaboration between MFTs and community-based agencies such as Head Start.     

Factors influencing student selection of marriage and family therapy graduate programs

To understand which factors students consider most important in choosing a marriage and family therapy (MFT) graduate program and how programs met or did not meet these expectations of students over the course of graduate study, we conducted an online mixed-method investigation. One hundred twelve graduate students in Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education-accredited programs responded to an online survey assessing what factors led them to select a specific graduate program in MFT. In the quantitative portion, students ranked each factor (personal fit, faculty, funding, research, clinical work, and teaching) as well as characteristics of each factor in relation to its importance in their selection of an MFT program. Additionally, students indicated to what level their programs meet their expectations. In the qualitative portion, students described how they believed their chosen program was or was not meeting their expectations. Both doctoral and master's students ranked personal fit as the top factor affecting their choice of graduate program in MFT, but they differed on the characteristics of each of these factors and their importance in selecting an MFT program. Implications for this research include program evaluation and program advertising, and are consistent with the scientist-practitioner model.     

Gender,Work Time,and Care Responsibilities Among Faculty1

This study explores how faculty at one research‐intensive university spend their time on research, teaching, mentoring, and service, as well as housework, childcare, care for elders, and other long‐term care. Drawing on surveys and focus group interviews with faculty, the article examines how gender is related to time spent on the different components of faculty work, as well as on housework and care. Findings show that many faculty report working more than 60 hours a week, with substantial time on weekends devoted to work. Finding balance between different kinds of work (research, teaching, mentoring, and service) is as difficult as finding balance between work and personal life. The study further explores how gendered care giving, in particular being a mother to young children, is related to time spent on faculty work, controlling for partner employment and other factors. Men and women devote significantly different amounts of time to housework and care giving. While men and women faculty devote the same overall time to their employment each week, mothers of young children spend less time on research, the activity that counts most toward career advancement.     

Satisfaction and role quality perceptions of farm women employed off the farm

The purpose of the study is to examine the relationships among perceptions of role quality on the farm and in the family, perceived financial need to work off the farm, and satisfaction with the balance of time away from and with family members for 187 employed farm women. Role quality perception variables measure the gap farm women experienced between actual and ideal farm and family roles. The perceived financial need to work is considered a constraint to satisfaction and an influence on role quality. OLS regression is the primary data-analysis technique. Employed farm women with large households are less satisfied with the balance of time away from and with family members. Those employed farm women who perceived a larger gap between their actual and ideal family roles are less satisfied with the balance between time away from and with family members.Her research interests include family decision making, labor force participation of women, and standards and levels of living.Her research interests are family work and environmental values in family decision making.     

Targeting Threats to the Therapeutic Alliance: A Primer for Marriage and Family Therapy Training

Although theory and research highlight the importance of the client–therapist relationship, marriage and family therapy (MFT) training has historically centered on specific models, consisting of proprietary language and techniques, instead of common factors like the therapeutic alliance. In this article, we begin by making an argument for explicitly focusing on the therapeutic alliance in MFT training programs. Next, we highlight common alliance threats experienced by both faculty members and student therapists. We then integrate research‐informed principles with clinical wisdom to outline specific recommendations and concrete skill‐building exercises for MFT educators and supervisors to use with their students to address these threats and advance training on the therapeutic alliance.     

Personal assistance from family members as an unwanted situation,an optimal solution or an additional good? The Swedish example

The aim of this article was to explore how users experienced and managed personal assistance from family members who are employed as personal assistants. Seventeen users of personal assistance provided by one or several family members, often in combination with external personal assistants, participated. Thematic qualitative interviews were conducted. The participants were between 19 and 58 years old, and were living with various impairments: mobility, sensory and/or learning disabilities. The results showed that personal assistance from family members could both promote and be a barrier to disabled people’s control over their own lives and participation in society. It became evident that the situation could have both advantages and disadvantages for both parties, which puts the focus on the interdependency between the participants and their family assistants. However, the results also points to a potential risk that the welfare state (re)passes its responsibilities back on to disabled people and their families.     

A NEW TECHNOLOGY FOR TEACHING/LEARNING MARITAL AND FAMILY THERAPY

A computer technology known as Group Support Systems (GSS) was pilot tested in a doctoral marital and family therapy (MFT) course to explore its usefulness in teaching/learning marital and family therapy. GSS allowed participants to combine face-to-face interaction with dialogue structured by GSS on personal computers. Through linked computers, each participant contributed to group discussions both simultaneously and anonymously. GSS was used to discuss a videotape, to conduct two role plays, and to write this paper. GSS was found to improve brain-storming, enhance collaboration, reduce hierarchical status among participants, increase self-reflection, create a trusting environment, and promote group-supported active learning. Recommendations for further MFT teaching, research, and application of GSS are presented.     

What’s Wrong With These People? Clinicians’ Views of Clinical Couples

Marriage and family therapy (MFT) faculty and graduate students rated the "typical" or predictable behaviors of husbands or wives coming for therapy using the Georgia Marriage Q-sort. Scores were compared with previously published scores for both "ideal" couples (i.e., showing positive behaviors, attitudes, and problem-solving skills) and a sample of 136 nonclinical, community couples. A review of correlations between MFT raters' scores for clients and the scores for "ideal" or actual community husbands or wives indicated that clinicians have negative views of both clinical husbands and wives. Such negative views of clinical husbands and wives are particularly marked in scores by MFT faculty. MFT students had a similarly negative view of clinical husbands, but such views were not evident for clinical wives. Recommendations for MFT training and implications for future research are discussed.     

The scientist-practitioner model in marriage and family therapy doctoral programs: current status

We discuss the status of the scientist-practitioner model in marriage and family therapy (MFT) doctoral programs. Issues discussed include a lack of faculty research role models in doctoral programs, "farming out" the majority of research courses to other disciplines, problems with curriculum, and how the culture of MFT does not support research. We also present suggestions for improving doctoral research training. The goal is to improve the quality of research training in doctoral programs. We hope that this will help change the culture of MFT to include research as one of its primary goals and greatest assets.     

Predictors of strike voting behavior: The case of university faculty

This study examines the impact of demographic characteristics, job variables, and attitudinal factors on the strike voting behavior of faculty members at a Canadian university. The results show that married faculty members and those from single-income households were more inclined to vote against the strike. Regarding the attitudinal factors, faculty members who were satisfied with existing research facilities and were loyal to the Faculty Association were likely to favor the strike, whereas faculty who were satisfied with working conditions and with the university administration were opposed to the strike. Beliefs about unions, however, did not appear to have an influence on voting behavior. The author thanks J. Dart, A. Dastmalchian, R. Long, D. Maki, and two anonymous referees for their helpful comments.     

Marriage and Family Therapy Students’ Experience with Common Factors Training

With the increased empirical and theoretical support for common factors in the psychotherapy literature, marriage and family therapy (MFT) scholars have begun discussing the inclusion of common factors in MFT training. However, there is very little empirical research on common factors training or how to include common factors in MFT curricula. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to investigate MFT students’ experience with common factors training. Seventeen master's degree students who received training in common factors participated in the study. Data was comprised of participants’ journal reflections and focus group interviews on their experience learning about common factors and how this influenced their work with clients. Participants’ responses to the training were overwhelmingly positive and highlighted the ways in which studying common factors enhanced their confidence, understanding of MFT models, conceptual abilities, and clinical practice. Additional results and discussion about incorporating common factors in MFT training are presented     

Human Sexuality Education in Marriage and Family Therapy Graduate Programs

Given the likelihood that marriage and family therapists will encounter clients with sexual concerns, it is important to know how graduate training programs are preparing future clinicians to work with this domain of life. Sixty‐nine marriage and family therapy (MFT) program directors completed an online survey to examine how sexual health education is integrated into graduate training programs. Findings indicate that while the majority of program directors value sexuality curriculum, and most programs require at least one course in this area, there are barriers to privileging sex topics in MFT graduate programs. Barriers include few MFT faculties with expertise in human sexuality and marginalized sexual health topics. Implications for training MFT graduate students and their work with future clients are discussed.     

Long Working Hours and the Corporate Gender Divide in Japan

While the workplace custom of working long hours has been known to exacerbate gender inequality, few have investigated the organizational mechanisms by which long working hours translate into and reinforce the power and status differences between men and women in the workplace. Drawing on 64 in‐depth interviews with workers at financial and cosmetics companies in Japan, this article examines three circumstances in which a culture of long working hours is disadvantageous for women workers, and the consequences of those circumstances: (a) managers in Japanese firms, reinforcing gender stereotypes, prioritize work over personal and family lives; (b) non–career‐track women experience depressed aspirations in relation to long working hours and young women express a wish to opt out due to the incompatibility of work with family life; and (c) workers who are mothers deal with extra unpaid family work, stress such as guilt from leaving work early, salary reduction and concerns over their limited chances for promotion. The article argues that the norm of working long hours not only exacerbates the structural inequality of gender but also shapes employed women's career paths into the dichotomized patterns of either emulating workplace masculinity or opting out.     

Challenge and Urgency in Defining Doctoral Education in Marriage and Family Therapy: Valuing Complementary Models

In this overview, I comment on the strong theme of the need to define and improve the quality of doctoral education in marriage and family therapy that pervades the three essays. Deficits in research training are the central concern, although the essayists take different perspectives on the nature of the research training needed. The different perspectives can be understood in terms of three different models of doctoral education. The institutional model focuses on professional training with little financial support for students and lower expectations for faculty research. The community of scholars model emphasizes a balance of research and practice with students required to attend full-time and financial support provided. Research is a mix of faculty- and student-driven and is often focused on professional issues. The star researcher model often held out as the ideal, although not yet represented in marital and family therapy (MFT), emphasizes faculty externally funded programmatic research with students working on and supported by faculty grant funding. The value and role of all three models in MFT doctoral education are described and discussed.     

Career Aspirations and Perceived Level of Preparedness Among Marriage and Family Therapy Doctoral Students

The authors conducted a survey of marriage and family therapy (MFT) doctoral students in programs accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education (COAMFTE). MFT doctoral students ( N  = 82) from across the United States responded to a web-based survey that focused on career aspirations, training opportunities, and the level of preparedness they experienced during their doctoral education. Results of this survey indicated that students felt they were well prepared for many aspects of their chosen career path. Some respondents desired more training to prepare them for careers in academia. More men than women indicated a career in academia as their primary career aspiration. While most of the respondents perceived that their internship experiences were beneficial, some expressed the desire for more opportunities to supervise master's-level students, to write grants, and to teach graduate-level MFT courses. The authors conclude with a discussion of how these findings may influence the development of core competencies specific to doctoral education in MFT.     

COMMON FACTORS ACROSS THEORIES OF MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPY: A MODIFIED DELPHI STUDY

The Delphi methodology was used to explore common factors across theories of marriage and family therapy (MFT). Leading clinicians and researchers from the American Family Therapy Academy and select faculty members from MFT training programs accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education were asked to achieve consensus regarding common factors. Respondents were asked to report on commonalities across the various MFT theories, as well as what they personally considered to be the core ingredients of change. A final profile of items was created from the responses. Qualitative interviews were conducted with selected panelists to clarify discrepancies as well as to add meaning to the data. Implications for the training and practice of MFTs as well as direction for future research are discussed.