TRAINING AND SUPERVISION IN FEMINIST-INFORMED FAMILY THERAPY: A DELPHI STUDY (CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY, WOMEN'S STUDIES)
Abstract
This exploratory study identified major teaching methods, supervisory processes, content areas and reading resources relevant to training and supervision in a feminist-informed approach to family therapy. It also examined differences between feminist-informed and more traditional supervisory relationships and identified family therapy training methods considered unacceptable from a feminist perspective. This study utilized the Delphi technique to poll a panel fo 26 family therapists knowledgeable about and experienced in applying feminist principles to the practice, training and supervision of family therapists. The Delphi procedure, modified from its usual three-round questionnaire format to a two-round format, was used to allow the panelists to generate and rate items related to selected stimulus questions. The results of this study indicate that panelists consider gender and feminist issues to be of central importance in the training and supervision of family therapists. They emphasize shifts in trainees' thinking and perceptions as a major path to developing more gender-sensitive practice, and identify numerous methods for promoting such shifts during the training process. They regard as unacceptable family therapy training which is impersonal, authoritarian, provided only by males, based predominantly on a male view point, or which fails to address larger contextual issues. They endorse supervisory relationships which are more personal and supportive than traditional ones, and in which issues of power, equality and gender are explicitly addressed. Finally, panelists recommend that family therapy curricula be expanded to include a wide range of gender-related content areas, including the relationship between gender, marital status, sex roles and psychopathology; research on sex roles, socialization and sex differences; women's psychology and development; and the social, economic and political factors which impact on women and family relations.
Degree
Ph.D.
Subject Area
Families & family life|Personal relationships|Sociology
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