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A Comparative Study Of Brief And Time-Unlimited Marital Therapists, Sharon Kay Gilley

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

This was a descriptive study of 140 volunteer therapists in the Richmond, Virginia metropolitan area who identified themselves as either "brief" or "time-unlimited" in their practice of marital therapy. The sample, predominantly female and highly educated, had a mean age of 46.9 years.;For the purpose of this study, brief marital therapy was defined as eight or fewer therapeutic sessions within a 3-month period, and time-unlimited marital therapy was designated as therapy lasting longer than eight sessions or over 3 months. There were 60 self-identified brief marital therapists (BMTs) and 73 self-identified time-unlimited marital therapists (TUMTs). Subjects completed four instruments, including …