Medical Family Therapy Training and Supervision: A Participatory Action Research

The United States (US) healthcare system is evolving toward integration and collaboration as a means for solubility and effectiveness. Medical family therapy (MedFT) aims to capitalize on these virtues to enhance medical treatment by way of integration and collaboration with the other systemic functions of a patients’ health, including biopsychosocial-spiritual (BPSS) components and collaborating healthcare. MedFT is a new and evolving practice in the healthcare field, including the training and supervision process. Recently, the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) developed “Competencies for Family Therapists Working in Healthcare Settings”. By utilizing existing literature and these competencies for training and supervision of doctoral students at Nova Southeastern University’s Medical Family Therapy Clinic, the researcher conducted a participatory action research (PAR) study to develop a training and supervision model. The use of the Kirkpatrick model of evaluation illuminated the stakeholders’ feedback, reaction, learning, and behaviors to the training and supervision. The findings concluded an effective supervision model that utilized a schema for learning, newly designed tool for assessment and conceptualization, and a mixture of supervision methods, specifically the Common Factors Supervision and Integrative Problem-Centered Model of Supervision models