Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Marriage and Family Therapy Graduate Students’ Satisfaction with Training Regarding Religion and Spirituality

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Contemporary Family Therapy Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Marriage and family therapists are likely to encounter religious or spiritual clients in their career and thus are encouraged to be aware of their clients’ religious and spirituality. This awareness is often fostered within graduate training programs. This study aims to examine graduate students’ incorporation of religion and spirituality in therapy and their satisfaction with the quality and amount of training programs’ adherence to religion and spirituality. A sample of 135 graduate students from American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy accredited programs completed the survey. Findings showed that graduate students with greater levels of religiosity and spirituality were more likely to perceive it important to address religion/spirituality in therapy and to perceive there is a need for religious/spiritual education. When controlling for religious and spiritual orientations, overall regression results revealed that not having a course on religion and spirituality and perceiving a need for religious/spirituality in education predicted lower satisfaction with the amount and quality of current training surrounding these dimensions. Implications demonstrate the need to address religious/spiritual concepts in the curriculum, supervision, and in marriage and family therapy training.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Acock, A. C. (2005). Working with missing values. Journal of Marriage and Family, 67(4), 1012–1028. doi:10.1111/j.1741-3737.2005.00191.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ahn, Y. J., & Miller, M. M. (2010). Can MFTs address spirituality with clients in publicly funded agencies? Contemporary Family Therapy: An International Journal, 32, 102–116. doi:10.1007/s10591-009-9107-5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Allport, G., & Ross, J. (1967). Personal religious orientation and prejudice. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 5(4), 432–443. doi:10.1037/h0021212.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. (2005). Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education, Accreditation Standards (Version 11.0). Retrieved from http://www.aamft.org/imis15/Documents/Accreditation_Standards_Version_11.pdf.

  • Beatty, A. E., Hull, M., & Arikawa, H. (2007). Correlates of therapist’s religious attitude and conservatism. Mental Health, Religion and Culture, 10(5), 527–535. doi:10.1080/13674670601105982.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beitin, B., Duckett, R., & Fackina, P. (2008). Discussions of diversity in a classroom: A phenomenological study of students in an MFT training program. Contemporary Family Therapy: An International Journal, 30, 251–268. doi:10.1007/s10591-008-9072-4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bergin, A., & Jensen, J. (1990). Religiosity of psychotherapists: A national survey. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 27(1), 3–7. doi:10.1037/0033-3204.27.1.3.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carlson, T., Kirkpatrick, D., Hecker, L., & Killmer, M. (2002). Religion, spirituality, and marriage and family therapy: A study of family therapists’ beliefs about the appropriateness of addressing religious and spiritual issues in therapy. American Journal of Family Therapy, 30(2), 157–171. doi:10.1080/019261802753573867.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carlson, T. S., McGeorge, C. R., & Anderson, A. (2011). The importance of spirituality in couple and family therapy: A comparative study of therapists’ and educators’ beliefs. Contemporary Family Therapy: An International Journal, 33, 3–16. doi:10.1007/s10591-010-9136-0.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dillman, D. A., Smyth, J. D., & Christian, L. M. (2009). Internet, mail, and mixed-mode surveys: The tailored design method (3rd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frazier, R., & Hansen, N. (2009). Religious/spiritual psychotherapy behaviors: Do we do what we believe to be important? Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 40(1), 81–87. doi:10.1037/a0011671.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Genia, V. (1993). A psychometric evaluation of the Allport-Ross I/E Scales in a religiously heterogeneous sample. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 32(3), 284–290. doi:10.2307/1386667.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Genia, V. (1997). The Spiritual Experience Index: Revision and reformulation. Review of Religious Research, 38(4), 344–361.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gonsiorek, J., Richards, S., Pargament, K., & McMinn, M. (2009). Ethical challenges and opportunities at the edge: Incorporating spirituality and religion into psychotherapy. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 40(4), 385–395. doi:10.1037/a0016488.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grams, W. A., Carlson, T. S., & McGeorge, C. R. (2007). Integrating spirituality into family therapy training: An exploration of faculty members’ beliefs. Contemporary Family Therapy: An International Journal, 29, 147–161. doi:10.1007/s10591-007-9042-2.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guanipa, C. (2003). Sharing a multicultural course design for a marriage and family therapy programme: One perspective. Journal of Family Therapy, 25(1), 86–106. doi:10.1111/1467-6427.00236.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haug, I. (1998). Spirituality as a dimension of family therapists’ clinical training. Contemporary Family Therapy: An International Journal, 20(4), 471–483. doi:10.1023/A:1021628132514.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Helmeke, K. B., & Bischof, G. H. (2002). Recognizing and raising spiritual and religious issues in therapy: Guidelines for the timid. Journal of Family Psychotherapy, 13(1), 195–214. doi:10.1300/J085v13n01_10.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hines, M. (1996). Follow-up survey of graduates from accredited degree-granting marriage and family therapy training programs. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 22(2), 181–194. doi:10.1111/j.1752-0606.1996.tb00197.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kirkpatrick, L., & Hood, R. (1990). Intrinsic–extrinsic religious orientation: The boon or bane of contemporary psychology of religion? Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 29(4), 442–462. doi:10.2307/1387311.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marterella, M. K., & Brock, L. J. (2008). Religion and spirituality as a resource in marital and family therapy. Journal of Family Psychotherapy, 19(4), 330–344. doi:10.1080/08975350802475072.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morrow, D., Worthington, E., & McCullough, M. (1993). Observers’ perceptions of a counselor’s treatment of a religious issue. Journal of Counseling and Development, 71(4), 452–456. doi:10.1002/j.1556-6676.1993.tb02664.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Newport, F. (2010). Near-record high see religion losing influence in America. Gallup.com Online. Retrieved from http://www.gallup.com/poll/145409/Near-Record-High-Religion-Losing-Influence-America.aspx.

  • Parsons-Rozycki, R., & Ford, J. (2010). Multicultural issues, spirituality and religion. In L. Hecker (Ed.), Ethics and professional issues in couple and family therapy. New York, NY: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Patterson, J., Hayworth, M., Turner, C., & Raskin, M. (2000). Spiritual issues in family therapy: A graduate-level course. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 26(2), 199–210. doi:10.1111/j.1752-0606.2000.tb00289.x.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Prest, L., Russel, R., & D’Souza, H. (1999). Spirituality and religion in training, practice and person development. Journal of Family Therapy, 21(1), 60–77. doi:10.1111/1467-6427.00104.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rose, E., Westefeld, J., & Ansley, T. (2008). Spiritual issues in counseling: Clients’ beliefs and preferences. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 1, 18–33. doi:10.1037/1941-1022.S.1.18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stander, V., Piercy, F., MacKinnon, D., & Helmeke, K. (1994). Spirituality, religion, and family therapy. American Journal of Family Therapy, 22(1), 27–41. doi:10.1080/01926189408251295.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Family Child Sciences, Florida State University, 225 Sandels Building, Tallahassee, FL, 32306-1491, USA

    Sharde’ N. McNeil

  2. Institute for Social and Policy Research, Purdue University Calumet, 1247 169th Street, Hammond, IN, 46324, USA

    Thomas W. Pavkov

  3. Department of Behavioral Sciences, Purdue University Calumet, 1247 169th Street, Hammond, IN, 46324, USA

    Lorna L. Hecker

  4. Adler School of Professional Psychology, 17 North Dearborn Street, Chicago, IL, 60602, USA

    J. Mark Killmer

Authors
  1. Sharde’ N. McNeil
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Thomas W. Pavkov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Lorna L. Hecker
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. J. Mark Killmer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sharde’ N. McNeil.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

McNeil, S.N., Pavkov, T.W., Hecker, L.L. et al. Marriage and Family Therapy Graduate Students’ Satisfaction with Training Regarding Religion and Spirituality. Contemp Fam Ther 34, 468–480 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10591-012-9205-7

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10591-012-9205-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation