Perceptions of preparedness among marital and family therapist trainees

2019-04-29Graduate students in a Marital and Family Therapy (MFT) program must balance a variety of professional and personal responsibilities, navigate rigorous academic demands, and respond well to supervision and training in their practicum. How well are these graduate students prepared to handle the workload? In this descriptive study, there is an examination of preparedness. The study explores the perceptions of preparedness among 200 MFT trainees who completed their traineeship at a non-profit charter management organization. The study looks at career goals, focus of clinical treatment, domains of practice and use of self-care strategies. Responses from an online survey revealed that over 50% of respondents reported feeling quite well prepared by their school and traineeship. Over 50% of respondents also reported frequent use of self-care practices as a means of preparation to manage their academic and clinical workload. The highest reported preparation for domain of practice is practical skills. Being a community liaison was the lowest reported skill. The implications for practice based on the findings include an in-depth examination of training on how to be a community liaison. This training provides a greater sense of preparedness for future clinical work. More encouragement on the use of self-care practice was another finding, which would promote more consistency in treatment. Areas for further research were also identified