Marriage and Family Therapy and Counseling Commons^™

Learning About Roger: A Supervision Case, Joanna Sturhahn Stratton , Ph.D., Randy D. Gallamore , M.A.

Counseling and Family Therapy Scholarship Review

A behavioral health internship provides an unparalleled training experience for a Master’s level clinical trainee. This narrative essay highlights how one behavioral health intern was pushed to the next developmental stage of learning as he encountered a patient with a complex medical condition and a new mental health diagnosis. This article also shares the learner’s perspective on how both the patient and intentional systemic supervision fostered his professional growth.

To Be Known: A Supervisee Experience, Alexa R. Ashworth

Counseling and Family Therapy Scholarship Review

Presented before you are a collective of raw, untamed poetic thoughts from my experiences as a Youth Treatment Counselor. In writing this personal narrative I have been able to let the inner turmoil of my soul soar with peace once more. You will discover how invalidation from supervisors and staff can quickly leave you at a standstill, being left to feel alone. My goal for writing this piece has been to create mental metaphors for others in the field who built up walls as a form of self-preservation, to feel comfort when there is no end. I hope my honesty …

Death And Life By A Thousand Cuts: Lessons Learned From The Deconstructive/Reconstructive Journey, Mark Karris , M.A., M.Div.

Counseling and Family Therapy Scholarship Review

Questioning one’s faith and beliefs about God, church, and their religion can be an excruciating experience. Since we all have an innate need to belong, feel safe, and be loved, we can be reticent to question and doubt our faith due to fear of rejection and isolation from two major figures: God and the church. For many people, it is not easy to separate the two. For some, the fear of losing God’s love, even momentarily, is terrifying. For others, the thought of leaving their beliefs behind may also feel like they have to leave their religious tribe behind, which …

The Mystery And Wonder Of Exploration, H. Luis Vargas , Ph.D.

Counseling and Family Therapy Scholarship Review

The Editor provides an Editorial for the new issue.

Forgotten Fathers: Postpartum Depression In Men, Brandon Eddy, Von Poll, Jason B. Whiting, Marcia A. Clevesy

Couple & Family Therapy Program Faculty Research

Although postpartum depression is common and well-studied in mothers, many fathers also experience symptoms. This qualitative study investigated fathers’ experiences of postpartum depression. Data from secondary sources such as blogs, websites, forums, and chat rooms were analyzed using a combination of phenomenological and content analysis methods to understand father’s experiences of paternal postpartum depression. Six themes emerged from the data including fathers’ needing education, adhering to gender expectations, repressing feelings, being overwhelmed, resentment of baby, and the experience of neglect. These data provide useful information that can aid health care providers, researchers, clinicians, and families in understanding the experience of …

Betrayed Partners And Men With Poisoned Souls: Interview With A Former Sex Buyer In Germany, Ingeborg Kraus

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Online Blaming And Intimate Partner Violence: A Content Analysis Of Social Media Comments, Jason Whiting, Rachael Dansby Olufowote, Jaclyn D. Cravens-Pickens, Alyssa Banford Witting

The Qualitative Report

Social media has become a ubiquitous form of interacting and sharing information. However, comments on social media sites are often aggressive and contemptuous, especially when topics are controversial or politically charged. For example, discussion of intimate partner violence (IPV) tends to provoke strong reactions from outsiders, who make angry or blaming remarks about those involved. Although IPV is common, it has not been widely discussed in popular media until recent years when high-profile cases of abuse have come to light. In 2016, a celebrity accusation of domestic violence led to thousands of comments on social media, with outsiders weighing in …

An Exploration Of The Lived Experience Of Women Who Had Abortions And The Effects Of The Abortion Secret On Their Relationships: An Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis, Marckdaline Johnson

Department of Family Therapy Dissertations and Applied Clinical Projects

The United States Supreme Court decision in the Roe v. Wade (1973) case provides women with a right to privacy and the liberty to make decisions concerning their reproductive lives. With this, women who become pregnant are offered the right to choose between keeping their pregnancy and terminating the pregnancy by way of abortion. Since Roe v. Wade (1973), many women have exercised their reproductive liberties, as evidenced by the termination of over 60 million pregnancies via legal abortion in the United States. Still, secrecy among women with a history of abortion remains a common phenomenon. Studies conducted on abortion …

Cooking With Couples: A Grounded Theory Study On The Relational Aspects Found In The Cooking Interactions Of Couples, Nicole R. Gordon

Department of Family Therapy Dissertations and Applied Clinical Projects

Cooking is a universal activity which all humans can relate to on some level. Historically, cooking has continued to connect people across cultures and time, simultaneously providing nutritive sustenance as well as socio- and psychological benefits. Medical and mental health practitioners only in recent years have utilized cooking in a therapeutic process, and most of those cooking activities available tend to focus on cooking from an occupational and nutrition-education stance. A gap in the literature pertaining to cooking and its therapeutic applications exists around the relational nature underlying the cooking process, especially as it pertains to couples. While marriage and …

Can Early Intervention With Group Therapy Or Individual Therapy Improve The Family Dynamic In Ptsd Patients?, Killian Norton

Physician Assistant Scholarly Project Posters

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a mental health disorder that affects an individual directly, while also affecting their family members around them. While PTSD is not directly correlated to the development of Secondary Stress Disorder (STS), PTSD has been shown to lead to increased rates of divorce and mood disorders in children whose parents are diagnosed with PTSD. Children who have grown up with divorced parents, or parents with PTSD, have been shown to have an increased chances of developing mood disorders and risky lifestyle behaviors. The combination of having a parent with PTSD and being divorced would likely …

Reducing Alcohol-Related Consequences Among High School Seniors: Efficacy Of A Brief, Web-Based Intervention, Diana M. Doumas, Susan Esp

Counselor Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

The authors examined the efficacy of a brief, web-based personalized feedback intervention on reducing alcohol-related consequences among high school seniors (N = 105) using a group-randomized controlled design. Results of repeated measures mixed-models analyses indicated significant intervention effects over time for alcohol-related consequences at 30-day and 6-month follow-up assessments. Drinking risk-status moderated intervention effects such that results were only significant for high-risk drinkers (i.e., students reporting initiation of heavy episodic drinking at baseline).

The Effects Of Students’ Perceptions Of Teachers’ Anti-Bullying Behavior On Bullying Vicimization: Is Sense Of School Belonging A Mediator?, Diana M. Doumas, Aida Midgett

Counselor Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study evaluated the influence of students’ perceptions of teachers’ anti-bullying behavior and sense of school belonging on bullying victimization among elementary school students (N = 110). We used structural equation modeling (SEM) to test a mediational model in which we hypothesized sense of school belonging would mediate the relationship between students’ perceptions of teacher behavior and bullying victimization. Results supported the mediational model, indicating students’ perceptions of teachers’ anti-bullying behavior was positively related to sense of school belonging, which in turn was related to lower levels of bullying victimization. Findings highlight the importance of teachers in fostering a …

Age Of Drinking Initiation As A Mediator Of The Relationship Between Sensation Seeking And Heavy Drinking Among High School Seniors, Diana M. Doumas, Rob Turrisi, Raissa Miller, Susan Esp, Brian Flay

Counselor Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

Sensation seeking has been identified as a significant risk factor for adolescent alcohol use. Little is known, however, about the process by which sensation seeking impacts heavy alcohol use. The current study used structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine the relationships among sensation seeking, age of drinking initiation, and heavy alcohol use in a sample of high school seniors (N = 221). Results supporting age of drinking initiation as a mediator of the relationship between sensation seeking and heavy alcohol use. Implications include providing personality-targeted prevention to adolescents who display sensation seeking traits to delay drinking initiation among these …

Transgender Parent Differentiation: A Heuristic Phenomenological Study, Eva Smidova

Department of Family Therapy Dissertations and Applied Clinical Projects

Transgender individuals go through their intrapersonal differentiation between covert “I” (expressed gender) and overt “I” (assigned gender), often unnoticed by family members before their coming out. Consequently, their coming out rockets anxiety in the family system and the process of differentiation of transgender parents seem to go through its unique path to search for equilibrium. Recent social and clinical studies about transgender parents have paid attention to the experience and challenges of the gender transition process, social pressure, acceptance of transgender individuals in a parenting role, and readiness of families to cope with the transition of a parent (Bischof, Warnaar, …

A Phenomenological Study Of Black Fathers In Child Welfare, Tamaru N. Phillips

Department of Family Therapy Dissertations and Applied Clinical Projects

Each year thousands of children are removed from their homes and placed in foster care where they lose connections with their family, community, and friends. Coakley (2007) points out that children of color are overly represented within the child welfare system, and there is a lack of research on Black fathers and their involvement when their children become a part of the system. Studies have suggested that most families that encounter the child welfare system have adult males who are actively involved with their families, however, child welfare workers do not engage these men (Coady, Hoy, & Cameron, 2013). The …

The Experience Of Sexual Abuse Of Afro Caribbean Women: The Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis Of The Particularities Attached To Disclosure, Angela Hood

Department of Family Therapy Dissertations and Applied Clinical Projects

Sexual abuse is often associated with long-term distressing effects. The experience of sexual abuse differs between survivors and the disclosure of the abuse is a complicated process that may have many particularities attached. For this study, I conducted an interpretative phenomenological analysis to understand how Afro-Caribbean women who experienced sexual abuse understand and make meaning of their experiences and the particularities attached to disclosure. Although prior research regarding sexual abuse has been conducted, research amongst Afro-Caribbean women has been minimal. Further absent from the sexual abuse literature is the lived experience of this population and the meaning they ascribe to …

Clinical Director Perspectives On Decision Making Of Family Involvement With Clients At Inpatient Substance Abuse Treatment Centers, Lauren Amber Serdencuk

Department of Family Therapy Dissertations and Applied Clinical Projects

Literature supports that family members of individuals who abuse substances are significantly influential, whether it be positive or negative (Liddle et al., 2001). Evidence-based family therapy decreases substance use by adolescents (Slesnick et al., 2006). The purpose of this study was to gain the perspectives of clinical directors regarding decision making of family involvement at inpatient substance abuse treatment centers. Clinical directors were the focus of this study due to their experience, credentials, and their ability to oversee all clients and programs in a substance abuse treatment center. Purposeful sampling was utilized to obtain participants. Saturation was reached at three …

Marriage And Family Therapists’ Clinical Impressions Of Romantic Relationship Dissolution Heartbreak: A Modified Delphi Study, Isibel C. Moreno

Department of Family Therapy Dissertations and Applied Clinical Projects

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary (2018) defines heartbreak as “crushing grief, anguish or distress.” Heartbreak can lead to biological, psychological and social responses and consequences. Heartbreak from the dissolution of a romantic relationship is a form of disenfranchised grief, which is defined as the griever’s belief that society does not recognize their source of grief as legitimate (Doka, 1989). The literature shows that talking about grief helps those who experience it (Fisher & Archer, 2008). Hence, the present study sought to provide a consensus of the best practices that marriage and family therapists have utilized to help broken-hearted clients. I employed a …

From Horse Walk To Therapy Talk: Exploring The Effects Of Equine Assisted Family Therapy Coursework On Self Of The Therapist Development Of Mft Student Therapists, Tiffany De Leon

Department of Family Therapy Dissertations and Applied Clinical Projects

The Introduction and Advanced Equine Assisted Family Therapy (EAFT) courses offered at Nova Southeastern University (NSU) provide graduate Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) student therapists the space to learn about collaborating with horses for therapeutic and educational purposes. However, these courses also offer the potential for a unique dimension to self of the therapist development. Through these courses, student therapists are able to learn theory and application of an innovative experiential model for clients, but also utilize the activities to get to know themselves better as emerging therapists.

The purpose of this study was to explore if and how the …

An Autoethnography Of A Bilingual Therapist Working With Haitian Clients: Reconnecting To Home, Marie Philomise Joseph

Department of Family Therapy Dissertations and Applied Clinical Projects

This evocative autoethnographic study is a very personalized account of my life as a Haitian American and a bilingual family therapist working with Haitian refugee earthquake survivors. The study focused on the lived experiences and challenges encountered as a family therapist trained in systemic techniques, linguistic terminology, and the Westernized psychotherapy approach to engaging Creole-speaking clients in therapy. Other challenges that existed were uncovered during the integration of the use of Haitian Creole language and Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) tenets as the preferred model. It explored this therapist’s narrative in the process of providing psychotherapy to these clients, emerged a …

Beyond Telling: A Phenomenology Of Adoptive Parents' Adoption Communication Openness With Early Adolescents, Jane D. Samuel

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

Despite calls for increased Adoption Communication Openness (ACO) within the adoptive family, research indicates that families still struggle to accomplish the recommended elements and levels of openness. What could be holding families back from this key process? Three focus groups comprised of 17 adoptive parents of early adolescents (aged 10-14) who were age 0-2 at the time of placement were thematically coded. This inductive analysis revealed the complexity rooted in being —sometimes successfully and sometimes not—communicatively open. Four key themes emerged painting a vivid and rich picture of: a) the breadth and depth of this experience; b) the work entailed; …

The Experiences Of African American Marriage And Family Therapists: Their Contributions To The Marriage And Family Therapy Field, Leila Linntoya James

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

In this dissertation, I seek to understand the factors that play a role in the success of African American Scholars in the Marriage and Family Therapy field, by conducting an extensive literature review of factors that may affect matriculation and retention through lived experiences. In the study, I use narrative inquiry, research questions and Husserlian Phenomenological methodology to explore the challenges important to the African American journeys toward success. In the first chapter, I introduced the criteria in which the study focused which highlighted four areas of accomplishments including clinical, teaching, supervision, and research. dissertation that follows. The second chapter …

Managing Professional Roles In Home-Based Family Therapy: A Study Of Marriage And Family Therapist Practices, Sharon Fitzgerald

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Since the 1980’s there has been a proliferation of home and community-based mental health services developed to meet the needs of families with children with severe emotional or behavioral problems as an alternative to residential or institutional placement (Macchi & O’Connor, 2010; Zarski, Pastore, Way, & Shepler, 1988). Despite this long history, home-based family therapists are still trying to define best practices for home-based family therapy (HBFT). In the literature, the management of professional roles has been defined as a practice element worthy of attention. For instance, in an analysis of home-based programs, researchers identified providers having multiple roles as …

“We’Re Together”: An Exploration Of Interracial Couples’ Perceptions Of Support And Relational Therapy, Maxine Notice

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Interracial couples in the United States experience disproportionate amounts of adversity throughout their relationships. Backlash for loving interracially results in denied access to supportive systems, which literature indicates occurs commonly between micro and macro systems. Using ecological systems and narrative theories, a mixed methodological study was conducted using the Fragile Families Child and Wellbeing study to explore participant’s use of relational therapy and perceptions of access support systems. Subsequently, sixty interracial couple members completed a survey expressing perceptions of relational therapy, and the influence of support systems on their usage. Results indicate interracial and same-race couples attend relational therapy at …

Religion In Incarcerated, Jewish, Female Inmates, Marcia Janine Kesner

Theses and Dissertations

This study explored the role religious belief and practice played amongst Jewish, female inmates during their incarceration. A group of ten correctional chaplains who work with Jewish, female, inmates and a comparison group of ten chaplains who work with Protestant, female inmates were interviewed. The study determined the reasons for and benefits of religious observance among these inmates and included assisting in dealing with fear, providing a sense of peace, and deceitful motives for personal gains. Religious practice also assisted inmate populations in healing from trauma, improving self-respect and self-esteem, building support systems, and additionally for Jewish, female inmates constructing …