Choices of family therapy intervention methods and therapeutic skills: their relationship to family therapists' academic backgrounds

Abstract

A continuing debate in the family therapy field revolves around the issue of the academic backgrounds of therapists. Is family therapy a separate discipline learned in programs of Marriage and Family Therapy or a discrete set of skills acquired during clinical training in diverse academic and training settings? A survey of 345 student, associate, and clinical members of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) was conducted to examine the relationship between their academic backgrounds and their preferences for particular intervention methods and skills. Subjects rated their preferences for 50 therapeutic skills on a revised, self-report form of the Family Therapist Rating Scale (FTRS). When their scores were analyzed across the five scales of the FTRS (Structuring, Relationship, Historical, Structural/Process, and Experiential Behaviors), no significant differences were found across academic backgrounds, age groups, or AAMFT membership status. There was a tendency for the therapists who had more years of clinical experience to show less preference for the more directive skills on the Structural/Process Behaviors Scale. The best discriminator of therapists' choices for intervention methods and skills was their specialized training in specific models of family therapy.