Student impairment and remediation in accredited marriage and family therapy programs

Do As I Say, Not As I Do

Little is known about the drinking behaviors and perceptions of the peers facilitating campus alcohol interventions. The current study examined these trajectories in peer counselors ( N = 12) providing personalized normative feedback interventions to undergraduates mandated to clinical services. Peer counselors completed four monthly self-assessments. In spite of facilitating interventions to reduce drinking and associated harms, peer drinking behaviors and expectancies did not change, although significant between subjects effects suggest various trajectories. Peer counselors did correct overestimates of binge drinking but progressively underestimated abstinence norms. Despite the lack of change in the peer counselor behaviors, the mandated clients significantly reduced their drinking, suggesting it may be more important to "Do as I Say" rather than as the facilitator does.

COAMFTE accreditation and California MFT licensing exam success

Professional accreditation of graduate programs in marital and family therapy (MFT) is intended to ensure the strength of the education students receive. However, there is great difficulty in assessing the real-world impact of accreditation on students. Only one measure is applied consistently to graduates of all MFT programs, regardless of accreditation status: licensure examinations. Within California, COAMFTE-accredited, regionally (WASC) accredited, and state-approved programs all may offer degrees qualifying for licensure. Exam data from 2004, 2005, and 2006 (n = 5,646 examinees on the Written Clinical Vignette exam and n = 3,408 first-time examinees on the Standard Written Exam) were reviewed to determine the differences in exam success among graduates of programs at varying levels of accreditation. Students from COAMFTE-accredited programs were more successful on both California exams than were students from other WASC-accredited or state-approved universities. There were no significant differences between (non-COAMFTE) WASC-accredited universities and state-approved programs. Differences could be related to selection effects, if COAMFTE programs initially accept students of higher quality. Implications for therapist education and training are discussed.

Responding to remediation and gatekeeping challenges in supervision

Thirty faculty in randomly selected Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education (COAMFTE) programs representing four geographical regions of the United States were asked to respond to a survey that included seven brief vignettes depicting gatekeeping and remediation challenges supervisors may face when working with therapists-in-training. Research participants were asked to select from among a range of 17 response options and were also asked to provide a rationale for the selection of their responses. The response rate for the mailed survey was 34%. Telephone interviews were conducted with three respondents who had provided especially detailed responses to the open-ended portions of the mailed survey and who also volunteered to be questioned regarding how supervision decisions are made. Results support the conclusion that COAMFTE faculty take their gatekeeping function seriously as they balance commitments to multiple stakeholders. When presented with hypothetical "bare-bones" vignettes, the supervisors in our study consistently recommended talking with the student in order to more fully understand the context of the student's performance problem before deciding how to proceed. Supervisors recommended a variety of remediation efforts, but reserved the most severe consequences, such as probation, dismissal, and filing an ethics complaint, for the vignette involving dishonesty and lack of personal integrity.