THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPISTS' CHARACTERISTICS, VALUES, AND SELECTED DECISIONS THEY MAKE ABOUT POTENTIAL CASES
Abstract
This study examined the relationship of marriage and family therapists' characteristics and values as measured on the Rokeach Value Survey and selected decisions they make about potential cases as measured on a case study ranking exercise. A survey was sent to a random sample of the membership of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. The survey consisted of three parts: (a) a professional and personal background form that elicited information about current practice and orientation, (b) Rokeach's value survey which provided information about the therapists' instrumental and terminal values, and (c) a case study exercise that asked the therapists to make decisions in four categories by ranking case studies. The categories for the ranking exercise were: (a) probability of divorce, (b) probability of no divorce with therapy, (c) perceived similarity of clients' beliefs/values to the therapists' beliefs/values, and (d) level of desirability of therapists for working with each case. The cases were selected from the DSM-111 Case Book of the American Psychiatric Association. The data were analyzed for all characteristics except three, using a one-way analysis of variance performed for each ranking of each case study and each value (each ANOVA was performed independently) with a significance level of p (LESSTHEQ) .05 to determine if there is an existing relationship between marriage and family therapists' characteristics and values and how they make selected decisions on potential cases. For the other three characteristics, as the response range was much greater, the statistical test used was a Pearson correlation with a significance level of p (LESSTHEQ) .05. Then for each question, each significant value was compared to each significant case study controlling for each specific characteristic using a partial correlation. It was determined that there is (a) a significant relationship between specific marriage and family therapists' characteristics and values; (b) a significant relationship between the decisions they make about potential cases and specific characteristics; and (c) a significant relationship between specific characteristics, specific values, and decisions, thus indicating that marriage and family therapists' decisions in some specific cases can have a relationship to some of their specific characteristics and specific values.
Degree
Ph.D.
Subject Area
Academic guidance counseling
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