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We examined the trends of quantitative research over the past 10 years in the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy (JMFT). Specifically, within the JMFT, we investigated the types and trends of research design and statistical analysis within the quantitative research that was published in JMFT from 2005 to 2014. We found that while the amount of peer-reviewed articles have increased over time, the percentage of quantitative research has remained constant. We discussed the types and trends of statistical analysis and the implications for clinical work and training programs in the field of marriage and family therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ongoing foreign conflicts have exposed military-connected children to stressors not generally faced by the general child population. Although many children of service members and veterans are resilient and successfully adapt to these changes, frequent relocation, fluid family structure, and ambiguous loss can become too overwhelming for many children of military families and lead to pathological symptoms that require them to receive treatment. This paper discusses the use of family-based play therapy interventions with military children. It will focus on the following areas: (1) risks to the psychological and emotional health of children of service members, (2) adverse effects of combat stress reactions of military parents on their children, (3) traumatic grief of children whose family member has died or been grievously wounded, (4) family-based therapies currently in the treatment of childhood grief and trauma, and (5) play therapy as a means of treating bereavement and traumatization of military-connected children and their families. A case example demonstrating a couple and family therapist's use of family-based play therapy to deal with traumatic grief of a military child is provided. Recommendations for future research are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the experiences of seven diverse therapists in a supervision course as they wrestled with the real-world application of multicultural supervision. Existing literature on multicultural supervision does not address the difficulties that arise in addressing multicultural issues in the context of the supervision relationship. The experiences of six supervisory candidates and one mentoring supervisor in addressing multicultural issues in supervision are explored. Guidelines for conversations regarding multicultural issues are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aimed to develop an outcome measure evaluating the effectiveness of the Adults and Children Together (ACT) Against Violence training program by collecting pre-, post-program, and follow-up data. A two-part questionnaire was administered to 37 child care providers in a pre- and post-test control group design. Changes in the knowledge and skill level of participants were analyzed. Results of the first part of the questionnaire showed that time and group status made a difference in the average total scores. In the second part of the questionnaire, time had a significant effect but group did not. Thus, the first part may be more promising to detect participants' skill and knowledge gains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theoreticians in adolescent sexuality have called for research that is contextual, health-focused, balanced between males and females, and from the perspective of adolescents, noting that scales developed by Buzwell and Rosenthal (1996) are promising. Cross-cultural validation of the measures in the United States. should include Latino adolescents, as they are the fastest-growing ethnic group. Contextual issues for this population include the roles of culture and the family, country of origin, and acculturation. The scales were tested with 155 Latino adolescents, Mexican-identified, and third generation plus. Scales indicated good reliability overall although several subscales were determined to best be combined as they created a single factor. Hierarchical agglomerative methods revealed a four-cluster solution with clusters conceptually mapping the original study. Clusters were significantly different on important sexual behaviors, such as virginity status, likelihood of engaging in safer sex, and number of sex partners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is scant literature in couples and family therapy about the impact of culture in couple therapy. This paper reviews current literature in counseling, multicultural counseling, family therapy, and gender and cultural studies to provide an overview of the significant and pertinent issues related to culture and the couple therapy setting. The paper reviews several aspects of culture including race and ethnicity, gender, social class, and sexual orientation. While by no means a complete review of these issues as they relate to couple therapy, this paper attempts to provide an opening to future dialogue and discourse in this area of clinical interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents three models of counseling exceptional students from a systems perspective. The authors present their definition of counseling, the goals of counseling, and the counseling relationship from a systems perspective. Each model is described, including assessment and intervention techniques appropriate for working with children, adolescents, and their families when giftedness and learning disabilities and other disabilities are part of the context. The authors discuss implications for school counselors and provide several cases as examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents three models of counseling exceptional students from a systems perspective. The authors present their definition of counseling, the goals of counseling, and the counseling relationship from a systems perspective. Each model is described, including assessment and intervention techniques appropriate for working with children, adolescents, and their families when giftedness and learning disabilities and other disabilities are part of the context. The authors discuss implications for school counselors and provide several cases as examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The process of the intergenerational transmission of violence is not well understood. A risk and resilience model of criminal violence against women was investigated using secondary data. The sample was composed of adolescent male juvenile delinquents who had been physically abused by their parents, and who were followed up at ages 25 and 31. A series of structural equation models were fit to investigate whether dysregulated affect mediated the effects of attachment and family chaos on the adult perpetration of violence against women. These models support the hypothesis that affect dysregulation may act as a mediator. Results raise new ideas about the mechanisms by which violence may be transmitted across generations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Adhesion of platelets onto immobilized fibrinogen is of importance in initiation and development of thrombosis. According to a recent increase in evidence of a multiple biological property of antithrombin, we evaluated the influence of antithrombin on platelet adhesion onto immobilized fibrinogen using an in-vitro flow system. Methods: Platelets in anticoagulated whole blood (29 healthy blood donors) were labelled with fluorescence dye and perfused through a rectangular flow chamber (shear rates of 13 s-1 to 1500 s-1). Platelet adhesion onto fibrinogen-coated slips was assessed using a fluorescence laser-scan microscope and compared to the plasma antithrombin activity. Additionally the effect of supraphysiological AT supplementation on platelets adhesion rate was evaluated. Results: Within a first minute of perfusion, an inverse correlation between platelet adhesion and plasma antithrombin were observed at 13 s-1 and 50 s-1 (r = -0.48 and r = -0.7, p < 0.05, respectively). Significant differences in platelet adhesion related to low (92 ± 3.3%) and high (117 ± 4.1%) antithrombin activity (1786 ± 516 U vs. 823 ± 331 U, p < 0.05) at low flow rate (13 s-1, within first minute) have been found. An in-vitro supplementation of whole blood with antithrombin increased the antithrombin activity up to 280% and platelet adhesion rate reached about 65% related to the adhesion rate in a non-supplemented blood (1.25 ± 0.17 vs. 1.95 ± 0.4 p = 0.008, respectively). Conclusion: It appears that antithrombin in a low flow system suppresses platelet adhesion onto immobilized fibrinogen independently from its antithrombin activity. A supraphysiological substitution of blood with antithrombin significantly reduces platelet adhesion rate. This inhibitory effect might be of clinical relevance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The practice of couple and family therapy has a long history in India. This article tracks some of the people, places, and contexts associated with the growth of marriage and family therapy (MFT) as a profession in the Indian context. Two of the authors outline their own introduction to MFT and work within this field in different cities in India in the last two decades. Based on their professional experiences and a pilot study conducted in Chennai, the authors document the needs of providers in the areas of systems-based therapy training and the practice of MFT. The role of the Indian Association for Family Therapy (IAFT) and suggestions for the future growth of the field are also highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two family therapy training instruments, the Family Concept Assessment (FCA) and Rating Scale and Family Therapy Assessment Exercise (FTE), developed in the United States were adapted to suit the Indian cultural context. Several changes were made to the instruments while at the same time maintaining the equivalency of the scales to the original. Both the instruments were tested for face validity by a panel of cultural and content experts in the United States. The FTE was then pilot tested with an Indian sample. The psychometric properties of the adapted instrument are reported in this article including feedback from the participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do men and women describe and assess their relationship? What themes are decisive for its quality and stability? To answer such questions, we investigated a random sample of 204 married couples (reference sample), and 31 married couples undergoing psychotherapy (clinical sample) using a newly developed questionnaire. The participating couples were asked to evaluate a total of 19 themes with respect to their importance for the couple's connectedness. Although only rarely directly addressed in couple therapy and investigated in couple research, the theme "Love" proved to be the decisive factor for quality and stability. The results of the present study, therefore, indicate that "Love" should be investigated more thoroughly in couple research and included more actively in diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents findings from an exploratory qualitative study, which used individual interviews and a focus group to investigate how women in Black-White interracial heterosexual partner relationships retrospectively described their racial identity development and the influence of gender identity development on this process. Social constructionist, feminist, and racial identity development theories guided the grounded theory methodology. Participants described both constraining and empowering racial identities. Salient constraining racial identities were being a "sell-out" or "traitor," being a "rule-breaker," having a masked reference group orientation, needing to prove reference group orientation, and having minority family status. Empowering racial identities included refusing to take sides, being "not racial," being neutral, identifying by respect rather than by race, having a multiple reference group orientation, being strong, and being an educator and mediator. Gender identity themes of strength and resiliency emerged as significant influences in racial identity development. Suggested questions for use within a narrative therapy context provide a clinical application of findings from the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature on counseling the gifted comes mainly from an individual- and pathology-based approach with roots in clinical psychology. This study investigated the application of a systemic and resource-based approach with roots in a postmodern orientation to counseling for gifted families. Two sets of participants were interviewed: three counselors and three families who had recently completed counseling using a postmodern approach. A multiple case study was conducted, using constant comparison of the transcripts of interviews to develop themes describing the experience of participants in counseling. Readings of the transcripts produced categories of themes related to roles and goals of counseling. The themes indicated that counselors saw a process of negotiating expectations, while client family members felt that they received the type of service they expected when they began counseling. The findings suggest that clinicians may want to be overt in their theoretical orientation with clients and be aware of how they are meeting or not meeting the clients' expectations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Family therapy has been recommended as a counseling modality for gifted adolescents and their families. The purpose of this article is to propose and discuss 3 guiding questions that can help counselors conceptualize and differentiate family therapy with gifted and talented adolescents: (1) What is the problem? (2) Who is in the room? and (3) What approach to family therapy will be most effective? For each question, we first summarize relevant family therapy theory and research. Then, we provide recommendations based on a small, but growing literature on counseling with families of gifted and talented youth plus our own clinical experience as family therapists working with families of gifted and talented adolescents. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of this literature for clinical practice, counselor training, parents of gifted adolescents, and future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This qualitative study explored the needs of Indian middle-class families for family therapy services. Four focus group interviews were conducted with middle-class parents in Madras, India. Participants were introduced to the concept and practice of family therapy and were encouraged to take a more active role in supporting the services they suggested. Participants identified problems faced by Madras middle class families and five different types of services that they were aware of. Three categories of need for family therapy were identified from the narratives of the participants. Several themes fit in each of the three categories. Implications for clinical application are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents preliminary findings evaluating the relationship between marital cohesion, pregnancy outcome, and gender and the level of stress and depression experienced by individuals pursuing infertility treatment. Women exhibited more stress and depression than men prior to treatment did, yet the level of change (pre-post) in depression and stress after treatment did not differ by gender. Pregnancy outcome helped predict post-treatment depression in women and men, and post-treatment stress for women. Clinical suggestions for pre- and post-cycle consultations are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Family therapy outcome research with community agencies has been challenging for various reasons. In two recent research projects, it was found that providing active feedback to agencies about their clinical services via a clinical report and a research-agency liaison were successful strategies to develop a collaborative atmosphere with agencies. Specifically, the two strategies improved agency and therapist recruitment, client and therapist motivation, and reduced therapist and client attrition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although feminist family therapy has been studied and practiced for more than 20 years, writing about feminist supervision in family therapy has been limited. Three supervision methods emerged from a qualitative study of the experiences of feminist family therapy supervisors and the therapists they supervised: The supervision contract, collaborative methods, and hierarchical methods. In addition to a description of the participants' experiences of these methods, we discuss their fit with previous theoretical descriptions of feminist supervision and offer suggestions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most studies of the Olson Circumplex Model of Marital and Family Systems have utilized a version of the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales (FACES). Because FACES does not appear to operationalize the curvilinear dimension of the Circumplex Model, researchers have been pessimistic about the model's validity. However, the Clinical Rating Scale (CRS) has received some support as a curvilinear measure of the Circumplex Model. Therefore, we used the CRS rather than FACES to test the validity of the Circumplex Model hypotheses. Using a structural equation-modeling analytical approach, we found support for the hypotheses pertaining to the effects of cohesion and communication on family functioning. However, we found no support for the hypotheses pertaining to the concept of adaptability. We discuss these results in the context of previous studies of the Circumplex Model using FACES. Based on the collective findings, we propose a preliminary reformulation of the Circumplex Model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This exploratory qualitative study used individual interviews and a focus group to investigate how women in Black-White interracial heterosexual partner relationships retrospectively described their racial identity development over the course of the relationships. Racial identity development, social constructionist, and feminist theories guided the grounded theory methodology. Participants described a process of restorying constraining narratives of racial identity into empowering racial identities through three types of strategies: blocking strategies, transforming strategies, and generating strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study compared the clinical rating scales from the Circumplex Model (CCRS), the McMaster Model of Family Functioning (MCRS) and the Family Health Scales (FHS). A central purpose was to investigate whether observational rating scales designed to measure family functioning can also be used to assess couple functioning. One hundred and sixty-six drug abusing women, receiving primary drug treatment in two metropolitan drug agencies in the southwest of the US, and their partners were videotaped while engaged in three couple tasks prior to receiving any treatment. The main findings indicated that all three rating scales have: (1) sufficient interrater reliability; (2) good construct validity, as reflected in factor analyses; and (3) very good convergent validity. However, there was some concern about whether these scales are as discriminating when measuring couples as they are when assessing families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social workers and case managers have provided in-home services to families for some time. The field of Marriage and Family Therapy, however, has begun to do in-home work only recently. This paper describes the experiences of MFT interns who worked with families in their homes. Two university graduate MFT training programs conceptualized and practiced in-home therapy with families who had at least one child enrolled in the local Head Start program. This collaborative effort was part of the AAMFT-Head Start Training Partnership Project that had the goal of funding projects that demonstrated successful partnerships between MFT and Head Start. Six interns worked with 27 Head Start families in their homes. A model of the interns' transition from clinic-based to home-based therapy is discussed and applied to working with Head Start families. The framework of in-home therapy is expanded to conceptualizing larger systems and community-based interventions, and recommendations for family therapists in private practice and agency settings are made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper summarizes the experience of a two-year project to promote partnerships between 12 graduate Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) training programs and their 12 local Head Start partners. The American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) awarded 9 grants to MFT-Head Start partnerships that had established relationships with each other prior to the project. Three MFT-Head Start pairs that had no preexisting relationship but wanted to develop one received planning grants. The partnership project provided an exciting opportunity for MFT faculty and interns to integrate family systems theory into larger organizational settings and to enhance the capacity of MFTs to serve disadvantaged, low-income, culturally diverse families and the community agencies that work with them. Preparing MFT students to intervene and respond systemically both in organizations and with the families they serve represents a viable alternative to more traditional approaches to MFT that limit the focus to the family system. Survey results and interview data reflect the rich experiences of MFT faculty and supervisors, MFT interns, and Head Start staff. Implementation issues are discussed and recommendations are made to improve the collaboration between MFTs and community-based agencies such as Head Start. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses apprenticeship programs and the impact of handicraft training of young people in Germany. Advantages of apprenticeship programs; Skill categories in handicrafts trade; Evaluation of the program.

Presents information on counselors management and counseling values while focusing on a model of personal and professional ethnics in marriage and family counseling. Management of moral and ethical issues; Explanation of the model; Analysis of counseling values.

This article presents the author's personal narrative of his childhood to illustrate how messages and meanings of family stories from the past can be transferred into one's current life and future plans. The author says that as he sits in his university office ready to tell people this story, he looks up over his computer screen and notice three pictures. Each represents something important from his past that makes up a meaningful part of who he is in the present, personally as well as professionally. Straight above the computer, his eye meets a larger collage made of straw and colored cloth. It shows, two frightened children holding each other tight while facing an old woman who leans on a crooked stick and stares at the children wickedly. A pigeon is flying over the house and an owl watches from a nearby tree. In front of the house, a boy and a girl look at the entrance in fearful excitement. Rediscovering the magic of the past can empower people in the present and make them hopeful for the future. Counseling and therapy are wonderful tools and contexts to recreate and translate inner truths of clients in ways that give them more control over their lives.

Family counselors have viewed the use of standardized family assessment instruments with considerable ambivalence. This article briefly describes this ambivalence and argues that the use of self-report questionnaires and observational rating scales can enhance a practitioner's clinical assessment in three ways. First, it complements the practitioner's initial assessment; second, it helps in the development of treatment goats; and third, it provides information for evaluating treatment effectiveness. Furthermore, the author contends that the use of assessment instruments can create a collaborative working relationship between client and family counselor. The clinical report and its instruments are discussed, and a case example illustrates the application of the clinical report. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article compares the Clinical Rating Scale (CRS) and the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales (FACES III), derived from the Circumplex Model used in family assessment. The Circumplex Model of Marital and Family Systems is an attempt to bridge family theory, research, and practice. Two central dimensions of family behavior are integrated in the model: family cohesion and family adaptability. The two dimensions with their four levels are arranged into the two-dimensional Circumplex Model, which yields 16 possible combinations of cohesion and adaptability. The four types in the center of the model are called "balanced" because they are hypothesized to be most viable for healthy family functioning. The four extremes are generally seen as most problematic in terms of family functioning. Until recently, practitioners primarily used self-report questionnaires when they relied on assessment instruments at all. The results of the present study suggest that the Clinical Rating Scale (CRS) is a very useful observational instrument that is derived from a theoretical model (Circumplex Model) and that has excellent reliability and validity.

Fairy tales have been used successfully in addressing difficult therapeutic issues in indirect ways. This paper describes how the Grimm's tale ‘Brier Rose’ can help engage families with an academically gifted child in family therapy. The metaphor concepts of derivational search, indirection, and embedded commands are briefly discussed, the fairy tale is summarized, and the story is applied to the three metaphor concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the assumptions of the narrative mode of therapy and the assumptions of therapeutic metaphors. The premise is that the use of metaphor fits the assumptions of narrative therapy and can enhance and expand narrative therapy. This paper examines the structure and types of metaphor, explores their fit within the narrative model, and gives three case examples which illustrate the use of metaphor in narrative therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the question of how parents grieve the loss of a child through miscarriage and stillbirth. Stress and grief as relevant variables in studies of perinatal loss; Gender difference in the reactions to perinatal loss; Use of Hill's ABC-X family crisis model; Bonding of fathers and mothers with the baby/fetus during early pregnancy.

This study examined factors that influence family therapists to include children in or exclude them from therapy sessions. We hypothesized that therapist comfort, child problem type (internalizing vs. externalizing), family composition (one- vs. two-parent families), and presenting problem (child-oriented problem vs. adult-oriented problem) affect therapists' inclusion of children. A survey of clinical members of AAMFT found that half of the therapists excluded children on the basis of their comfort and that those who felt more comfortable were more likely to include children in sessions. Therapists included children more frequently in cases of an internalizing vs. an externalizing child, more with single-parent than two-parent families, and more often when the presenting problem focused on a child than on an adult. Implications of the findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Family therapy educators frequently encourage self-reflection in their students and clients. However, little attention has been paid to the challenges and processes of the educators themselves. In this piece, four faculty members reflect individually and collectively on their lives and roles as educators. They describe family-of-origin influences, the intersections of their personal and academic lives, systemic factors in the professional setting, balancing work and family, hierarchy, gender, and coping strategies to increase support and reduce competition. They recommend a deliberate process of self-reflection to other family therapy educators and offer suggestions for improving the organizational dynamics of family therapy training programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Participatory evaluation research empowers the consumers of services to become leaders in evaluation and change. Participatory research methods have been used widely in developing countries and are consistent with family therapy's recent emphasis on non-hierarchical, empowering, collaborative therapies. In this paper, the authors present several examples of participatory evaluation methods and discuss their applicability to the work of family therapists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The validity, reliability, and curvilinearity of the Clinical Rating Scale (CRS) from the Circumplex Model were evaluated and the ability of the scale to discriminate between problem/clinical families and nonclinical families was tested on family cohesion, family adaptability, and family communication. Two groups of problem families were compared with two control groups. The study tested the main curvilinear hypothesis of the Circumplex Model that nonclinical families will have more Balanced system types than problem/clinical families. Conversely, problem/clinical families will have more Extreme system types than nonclinical families. Using the CRS, this hypothesis was strongly supported. Family satisfaction was used as a measure to investigate group differences further. As hypothesized, the two control groups had high levels of satisfaction, and the two problem family groups had significantly lower levels of family satisfaction. Overall, the CRS discriminated well between problem families who had more Extreme types on cohesion and adaptability and lower on communication and satisfaction than control families. Investigating different family structures (single-parent, blended, and traditional two-parent families) confirmed these findings. The study provided strong support for the curvilinear hypothesis that problem families are more frequently Extreme on both ends of the family cohesion and adaptability dimensions. It also revealed that the CRS has excellent validity and reliability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author introduces himself as the new editor of the Journal of couple and relationship therapy and informs about several transitions, the journal will be undergoing in future. The transitions include personnel changes, organizational changes which already began in November, 2012 as well as offers new and revived features for the journal. The journal will also have a special issue per year in emotionally focused couple therapy (EFT) and military couples.

This section introduces the articles featured in the June 2003 issue of the Journal of Couple & Relationship Therapy. Interracial couple relationships have been around since humans began to classify each other based on racial categorization. Although interracial couples face challenges that are directly and indirectly related to differences in their racial backgrounds, couple and family theories have had little to say about how to work with these differences. The goal of the journal is to give voice to and provide space for couples whose relationships have all to often been silenced or overlooked. The journal tried to cover clinical issues of interracial couples from theoretical as well as research perspectives. For example, the Killian, Karis, and Wieling articles report on qualitative research conducted with African American and white, and Latina/Latino and white couples. Other articles, such as those by Tubbs and Rosenblatt, Daneshpour, Bacigalupe, Ham, and Usita and Poulsen discuss theoretical and clinical issues of couples in which one partner is white and the other is non-white. The chapters by Long and Nazario explore issues of interracial lesbian and gay couples respectively. All chapters address issues of power as they related not only to racial differences, but also to gender differences, and to the interactions between the two.