The Development of Core Competencies for the Practice of Marriage and Family Therapy

Author(s)

Thorana S. Nelson, Utah State UniversityFollow
Ronald J. Chenail, Nova Southeastern UniversityFollow
James F. Alexander
D. R. Crane
Susan M. Johnson
Linda Schwallie

ORCID ID

0000-0002-9312-9780

ResearcherID

G-3624-2010, G-8814-2018

Publication Title

Journal of Marital and Family Therapy

ISSN

1752-0606

Publication Date

10-2007

Abstract

In response to a series of national policy reports regarding what has been termed the "quality chasm" in health and mental health care in the United States, in January 2003, the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy convened a task force to develop core competencies (CC) for the practice of marriage and family therapy (MFT). The task force also was responding to a call for outcome-based education and for the need to answer questions about what marriage and family therapists do. Development of the CC moves the field of MFT into a leading-edge position in mental health. This article describes the development of the CC, outcomes of the development process for the competencies, and recommendations for their continued development and implementation.

DOI

10.1111/j.1752-0606.2007.00042.x

Volume

33

Issue

4

First Page

417

Last Page

438

NSUWorks Citation

Nelson, T. S., Chenail, R. J., Alexander, J. F., Crane, D. R., Johnson, S. M., & Schwallie, L. (2007). The Development of Core Competencies for the Practice of Marriage and Family Therapy. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 33 (4), 417-438. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1752-0606.2007.00042.x