Programs

Ph.D. in Family Therapy

Mission Statement

The SHSS Family Therapy Ph.D. program is committed to academic and clinical innovation and excellence, preparing students to become leaders in therapy, consultation, research, and teaching, and offering high quality clinical services to the community. Applying a systemic perspective to both our teaching and clinical supervision, we focus on the relational strengths and resources of both students and clients.

Goals of the Ph.D. program: 1) reflect the diversity of our community; 2) demonstrate integrity and ethical practice; and 3) collaborate in providing clinical service to the community.

Students of our Ph.D. program: 1) learn how to write and communicate at a professional level; 2) learn how to conduct scholarly and applied research; 3) learn how to present their clinical work and research in professional settings; 4) learn how to teach, supervise, and consult; 5) demonstrate skills as competent marriage and family therapists; and 6) enter the community as leaders in their field.

Objectives of the Ph.D. program: 1) recruit faculty from diverse backgrounds; 2) recruit, enroll, and graduate students from diverse backgrounds; 3) provide close supervision of therapy and supervision to ensure
competent and ethical practice; 4) collaborate with NSU clinical services and other community agencies in the provision of clinical services; and 5) reach out to local schools and other service agencies to provide training for teachers and counselors and to enhance the well-being of students.

Students of our Ph.D. program: 1) pass all qualifying exams; 2) pass internal and internship practicum assessments; 3) demonstrate competence in communicating professionally; 4) successfully complete a nine-month internship; 5) demonstrate the capacity for independent research; 6) graduate and secure employment in the field as a teacher, supervisor, consultant, or senior clinician.

Program Description
The Ph.D. Program in Family Therapy prepares graduates for careers as professors, researchers, supervisors, and senior clinicians. The Ph.D. in Family Therapy at Nova Southeastern University is fully accredited with the:

Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education (COAMFTE) of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT)
112 South Alfred, Alexandria, VA 22314, 703-253-0457
http://www.aamft.org

The program’s accreditation will be reviewed in 2010.

The Ph.D. in Family Therapy is a 96-credit-hour program designed for individuals holding master's degrees who wish to fully grasp both the historical as well as cutting edge theory informing the current practice of family therapy. The program is also dedicated to understanding the relationship between theoretical ideas and the variety of established and emerging schools of family therapy. The program is designed to enhance student’s clinical skills in order to make them top level practitioners, while at the same time demonstrating the place of qualitative and quantitative research in this pursuit. Graduates of the program should look forward to productive careers in academic, supervisory, clinic and community based employment settings.

The Department of Family Therapy has full time faculty and supervisors that represent racial diversity as well as diversity in gender, age, and religion. Our part-time faculty and supervisors include cultural, gender, age, sexual orientation, and religious diversity. The student body of the masters and doctoral programs reflects the rich cultural diversity of South Florida as far as race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, and age.

The 96-credit-hour program integrates systemically oriented theory, clinical practice, qualitative, and quantitative research. The core curriculum includes:

In keeping with the interdisciplinary philosophy of the School, students have the opportunity to take electives in various specialties, such as Family Systems Health Care, peace studies, and conflict analysis & resolution. Additional courses may help students fulfill many of the course requirements for licensure in Florida (and other states) as a marriage and family therapist.

A student may choose to take more electives than are required. Elective courses at the doctoral level in the DCAR department may be taken with the permission of the program director. Other elective courses available to doctoral students within the Family Therapy department are Academic Writing, Teaching and/or Supervision practicum, Independent Study, and all of the courses in the Family Systems Health Care graduate certificate program. Other courses offered within the University may be considered for elective status pending approval from the program director.

During the program, students may also fulfill the academic requirements for becoming a Clinical Member and Approved Supervisor in the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. The program's supervision class is approved for meeting the supervision course requirement for all AAMFT Approved Supervisors.

Program Formats
The Ph.D. in Family Therapy is offered on-campus (fully accredited). It takes a minimum of four years to complete the program. Full-time enrollment is considered to be at least nine credit hours per trimester, including the summer. Part-time enrollment is also an option at any time throughout the program; however, students must be enrolled full-time for at least one trimester of didactic coursework (excluding dissertation). Once you begin your dissertation, you are considered full time when you are registered for at least two credits per trimester. After you have taken 12 hours of dissertation, you may enroll in one dissertation credit hour at a time and still be considered full time in the program.

Degree Plan
On the following page is a sample degree plan for a full-time student who begins their studies in Fall trimester. Degree plans will be modified based on a student’s enrollment date and pace of study.








Table 1: Ph.D Degree Plan: 96 credits hours
YeaR 1          
Fall (September) SFTD 5006 SFTD 5010 SFTD 5300 SFTD 6200 SFTD 5001
Winter (January) SFTD 5007 SFTD 5110 SFTD 5020 SFTD 6200 SFTD 5002
Summer (April) SFTD 6200 SFTD 7311 SFTD 7302 SFTD 5410 Preliminary Exam
YEAR 2          
Fall (September) SFTD 6410 SFTD 5030 SFTD 5120 SFTD 6200 SFTD 5003
Winter (January) SFTD 6430 SFTD 5040 SFTD 6510 SFTD 6530 Clinical Qualifying Exam
Summer (April) SFTD 7350 SFTD 6310 SFTD 7301 SFTD 6540 Research and Substantive Qualifying Exams
YEAR 3          
Fall (September) SFTD 6520 SFTD 6320 SFTD 7360    
Winter (January) SFTD 6900 SFTD 7410      
Summer (April) SFTD 6900 SFTD 7410

Dissertation Proposal Defense

    
YEAR 4          
Fall (September) SFTD 6900 SFTD 7410      
Winter (January) SFTD 6900

Final Dissertation Defense

      
Winter (January) Graduation

 

      


Program Specifics


Prerequisites
Before entering the program, all students must document at least two graduate level three-credit-hour courses covering basic family therapy concepts, as well as one course on individual and group psychotherapy. Any student who has not had these courses or their equivalent must initially take, as leveling courses, the following courses in our master’s program:

Practicum
Details regarding practica and the department clinic, the Brief Therapy Institute (BTI), are available in the Policies and Procedures Manual of the Brief Therapy Institute, available from the BTI main office.

Students progress through the four practica is assessed each trimester in terms of a set of skills (described below) considered necessary for the successful practice of family therapy. These criteria are divided into three levels of increasing sophistication. A student’s demonstration of these skills is assessed on a five point scale. A "5" on an item means a student consistently demonstrated the described behavior or skill. A "4" means a student often demonstrated the described behavior or skill. A 3 indicates that a student inconsistently demonstrated the described behavior or skill. A 2 means a student seldom demonstrated the described behavior or skill. A 1means a student never demonstrated the described behavior or skill. The practicum grade is determined in the following way:

A = no more than five 4s; nothing below 4
B = more than five 4s and/or up to two 3s; nothing below 3
C = more than two 3s and/or up to two 2s; nothing below 2
D = more than two 2s and/or up to two 1s
F = more than two 1s

Students in Practica I-IV enroll for 3 credit hours of practicum per trimester, and receive 1 hour of live supervision per week from a faculty member (working with a team). Students at level one must be able to consistently:

    1. Introduce themselves and the clinic (policies, procedures, videotaping, etc.) to clients in a warm and professional manner.
    2. Follow clinic policy (paperwork, follow-up, confidentiality, legal, and/or referral issues, etc.).
    3. Conduct themselves in a professional and effective manner (attendance, punctuality, presentation of self).
    4. Maintain an active caseload.
    5. Sensitively vary voice (tone, volume, rate, inflection) and non-verbal behavior (posture, gestures, facial expressions) to connect with clients.
    6. Empathically communicate an understanding of, and respect for, the experience of clients.
    7. Ask questions in a conversational and interactive (as opposed to interrogational) way.
    8. Avoid offering simplistic advice and personal opinions.
    9. Limit self-disclosure to occasions of therapeutic utility.
    10. Explore client stories with curiosity and demonstrate patience in developing possible interventions.
    11. Attend to larger-system issues and access appropriate resources for clients.
    12. Deliver supervisor/team communications with poise and sensitivity.
    13. Actively solicit and implement supervision as an opportunity for learning, regardless of model.
    14. Challenge their own premises and biases, and expand their awareness and appreciation of cultural, gender, spiritual, and sexual diversity.
    15. Actively participate in practicum, offering and requesting constructive feedback, when appropriate.
    16. Demonstrate an understanding of, and respect for, multiple perspectives (clients, team, supervisor).
    17. Conceptualize and describe client conundrums in systemic, non-pathologizing ways.

Students at Level two begin to work more independently. In addition to the above, these students (Practica III) must be able to consistently:

    1. Maintain caseload of at least one case outside the formal practicum experience.
    2. Seek and utilize supervision appropriately.
    3. Assume an active role in managing all team cases.
    4. Develop and utilize effective methods of peer supervision.
    5. Receive and utilize peer supervision.
    6. Negotiate team differences and conflicts in a way that builds and maintains team coherence and clinical effectiveness.
    7. Develop and maintain themes across sessions.
    8. Spontaneously generate relational questions and comments in the therapy room.
    9. Distinguish relevant information--in relation to model, client(s), goals, previous sessions, etc.--and organize the conversation accordingly.
    10. Weave supervisor/team communications into the conversation in a smooth manner.
    11. Contribute systemic ideas to team discussions.
    12. Appropriately generalize from supervision on a particular case to other analogous situations.
    13. Discuss and describe cases concisely within a systemic framework.
    14. Require less detailed direction from the supervisor.
    15. Identify what they wish to obtain from supervision.

Students in Practica IV must be able to integrate the skills necessary in levels one and two in a smooth and compelling manner. In addition, they must be able to consistently:

    1. Take calculated risks to expand their interpersonal repertoire (with humor, creativity, play, etc.).
    2. Handle unexpected and crisis situations with poise and skill.
    3. Describe cases and interact with clients using a variety of therapeutic models.
    4. Move toward a collegial relationship with supervisors.
    5. Articulate a coherent therapeutic orientation.
    6. Demonstrate their orientation in practice (in team discussions, invention of ideas and/or interventions, delivery of ideas, etc.).
    7. Develop and present at least one professional presentation in the community.

Client Contact Hours
In order to graduate, all students must document that they have a minimum of 1000 hours of appropriately supervised direct client contact hours. At least 500 of the 1000 required hours must be with couples and/or families present in the room.

Doctoral students who can document that their previous supervised clinical practice is comparable to that which would be received in an accredited program may petition the program to waive some or all of the required 1000 direct client contact hours. However, waiving all or part of this client contact hour requirement does not release a student from completing any of the practicum or internship requirements of the program. In order for a waiver request to be approved, the student must also provide a copy of their supervisor’s vitae or credentials. In order for their supervision to count, these credentials must indicate that the previous supervisor is an AAMFT Approved Supervisor, is a licensed MFT, received training in MFT supervision, is an AAMFT clinical member, or is recognized by a state regulatory body as being an equivalent MFT supervisor.

If a waiver request is approved, you still must document 100 in-the-room client contact hours with individuals, couples, and/or families during your time as a student in the program before beginning your clinical internship. At least half of these hours must be accrued at the Brief Therapy Institute and practicum hours may be included in the total. In order to count, all direct client contact hours must be supervised by AAMFT approved or state equivalent supervisors, who will sign and document that the hours submitted are accurate.

Documentation must include the date, type of session (i.e., family, couple, or individual), length, and location of each session. You must have access to case notes for all sessions listed. The necessary forms may be obtained from the program office. You must submit your completed forms to the program office at regular intervals (once per trimester) so that your file remains updated. Be sure to keep a copy for yourself.

Practicum Videotapes: Confidentiality and Other Considerations
Clients seen at BTI sign a Therapy Agreement that gives a student clinician permission to videotape sessions for educational purposes. BTI supplies students with the necessary tapes to record your sessions. Students may not use their own tapes for recording sessions, and all BTI tapes must remain on the premises to ensure confidentiality. Viewing rooms are available at BTI for you to watch tapes of your own work; you may not view another therapist's sessions without his or her prior approval. If you wish to show tapes in a class, or use them for your Clinical Qualifying Exam, you may sign them out for a specified amount of time. See the clinic director for details.

If you wish to write about a case seen at BTI and you need to transcribe interviews, you may sign the tape(s) out to do so, but any audio tapes dubbed for this purpose must be subsequently erased, and identifying information about the clients must not appear on written records of the sessions.

If you wish to show a tape to a professional audience outside of NSU, you must re-contact the family members seen on the tape, explain to them what you intend to do, and get a release signed by them in advance of your presentation.

Tapes will be supplied to you as the need arises. All tapes assigned to you during your time at BTI must be turned in to the clinic director at the end of your fourth practicum, whereupon they will be erased.

A technical note: If you intend to use your tapes as part of a research project and/or a professional presentation (such as your Clinical Qualifying Exam), it is essential that you record your sessions on the fastest speed possible (2 hours for a standard VHS tape). The audio and video quality of tapes recorded on slow (4 hour) or super slow (8 hour) speeds is not adequate for the purposes of research and presentations. FTA will supply the necessary tapes and provide storage for them for the duration of such projects.

Concentration in Family Systems Health Care
Students in the Ph.D. program in Family Therapy may choose to pursue a concentration in Family Systems Health Care. The concentration in Family Systems Health Care Program focuses on the relationships between psychosocial medicine and biomedicine in the treatment and prevention of illness and disease. Students are taught the basics of biopsychosocial theory, practice, and collaboration. The program prepares professionals to offer family therapy in a variety of medical settings, including private practices, hospitals, community clinics, and primary care/specialists' offices.

Students in the concentration program have ample opportunities to gain practical expertise through classroom learning and hands-on clinical, research, teaching, and service experiences. Specific areas of study include: adjustment patterns of clients and their families to chronic and acute illnesses; models of collaboration between medical family therapists and other health care professionals; the role of medical family therapists in the continuum of medical services; the politics and economics of health care; understanding human systems in health care; and brief interventions and systemic assessments useful in the treatment and care of patients and their families. Additionally, the program emphasizes professional development by assisting students in strengthening their personal qualities necessary for successful participation in the medical milieu.

The student's growth as a reflective practitioner is encouraged through clinical research in physician/client/therapist/family communication, adjustments to acute, chronic, or terminal illness, social effects and ethical dilemmas of new medical technologies, and other issues that transcend historical distinctions between physical treatment and psychosocial interventions. Program faculty and students cooperate to publish research findings and clinical experiences. Also, faculty and students of the program contribute to the growth of Family Systems Health Care by supporting and participating in groups like the Collaborative Family Health Care Coalition and the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine.

In addition to degree requirements, students must complete the following coursework to receive a Concentration in Family Systems Health Care:

Examinations and Evaluations
There are two levels of formal assessment that you must pass in the course of your studies. The first is the preliminary examination, and the second is a series of qualifying examinations. Each is described in detail below.

I. Preliminary Exam


Admission into the program is provisional until a student passes the Preliminary Examination. Students register for preliminary examination during their third trimester in the program. There is no charge for enrollment. The preliminary exam entails a formal assessment by the faculty of a student’s progress in the program. Some of the data for it may include grades, practicum, and writing evaluations from the first two trimesters (supplied to the faculty by the staff), and a three- to five-page (double-spaced) self-evaluation submitted by the student at least one week in advance of the preliminary examination meeting.

The self-evaluation should provide an in-depth accounting of your accomplishments as well as any difficulties in the clinical and academic areas of the program. Is should also include a clear indication of your plans and aspirations for the next year. It must be typewritten and should be free of errors. In addition, the faculty will consider all of the student evaluation criteria described in the catalog.

The meeting, lasting approximately ½ hour, and will be attended by the student and a committee of faculty representatives. Successes and challenges will be discussed. Following the meeting, the committee will make one of the following recommendations to the full family therapy department faculty:

  1. Pass review, effective immediately.
  2. Pass review, with faculty recommendations for changes.
    Please Note: In order to obtain one of these recommendations, all your grades must be B or higher, with no grades of incomplete. Courses with a grade C may have to be retaken, pending the recommendation of the committee.
  3. Repeat Preliminary Review, with continued enrollment contingent on the student satisfying one or more specified criteria in the course of a specified amount of time.
  4. Dismissal from doctoral program.

The family therapy faculty votes to accept, question, or reject each committee's recommendations. If the faculty accepts the committee recommendation, the student will receive a letter informing them of the faculty’s determination. If the faculty accepts a committee recommendation for dismissal, it becomes effective immediately. Tuition and registration fees for the trimester in which you were presently enrolled would, in such a case, be fully refunded.

If the faculty votes to question a committee recommendation, the student will receive a letter explaining this, asking them to attend a meeting with the director and the faculty as a whole. During this second meeting, the student’s situation will be discussed and the student will have an opportunity to present their case. Subsequent to this second meeting, the faculty will come to a decision regarding the student’s status in the program, and the student will be informed of it by mail.

Students have the right to appeal any such faculty decisions. See the section in the catalog on Student Appeals for procedural information.

II. Qualifying Exams


There are three components to the Qualifying Examination Process.

    1. Clinical Qualifying Exam
    2. Research Qualifying Exam
    3. Substantive Qualifying Exam

Each qualifying examination is intended to address major training and academic goals of the program. The Qualifying Examinations each represent a capstone experience for students preparing for their dissertation work. Successful completion of each of these exams indicates that the student has demonstrated increased readiness to undertake and complete increasingly sophisticated projects which requires of them independence of thought and motivation. Thus, the exams are intended to assess a student’s overall level of professional development and independence in terms of research and writing skills, conceptual/theoretical sophistication, and clinical expertise. The three exams are described in detail below.

1. Clinical Qualifying Exam
During March of a student’s second year in the program, a student is required to deliver a formal presentation of their clinical work to a committee of family therapy faculty members. This Clinical Qualifying Exam should not exceed 90 minutes (including time for questions). It is intended to provide an opportunity to demonstrate clinical competence and creativity, theoretical clarity, and clear integration of clinical and theoretical concepts, and should be viewed as the culmination of the live supervised practica sequence.

The Clinical Qualifying Exam offers student’ a forum for developing a professional clinical presentation similar to that which might be expected in a job interview situation. Successful completion of this exam indicates the faculty’s belief that the student is clinically prepared to perform successfully in real life situations and outside clinical settings. It is expected that a student will conduct themselves in a professional and collegial manner, in the preparation of both their written and oral materials. Care should be taken regarding appropriate dress, professional demeanor, clarity of presentation, and respect for clients and colleagues.

An edited videotape of the student’s work must be included in the presentation. This means that specific, brief segments of tape must be selected and edited onto a master tape to create a polished, succinct overview of a case. This tape may be produced at no charge through the Media Center on the main campus; alternatively, students may simply use two VCRs or a camcorder and VCR to edit their own tapes. The videotape should be of high quality, both technically and clinically. In any professional setting poor audio or video will detract significantly from the presentation, and thus it is also the case for the evaluation. The video is to be used in a focused way to demonstrate your clinical skills and to allow the audience to understand the progression of a case from beginning to end. The presentation should clearly show how your clinical work is consistent with the stated theoretical approach and understanding the theory of change. While it is not necessary that all of the video segments are examples of clinical “magic moments,” your clinical effectiveness and theoretical understanding should be apparent throughout.

The case may be selected from a student’s work at BTI or at an off-campus setting, but is limited to work completed during your time as a supervised student in the doctoral program. If an off-campus based case is selected, you must secure the appropriate releases in order to use the session tapes for educational and training purposes. Practicum cases may be used; however, you must first consult with the practicum instructor who supervised the case. In such cases it is important you to focus on your own clinical work rather than on a supervisor’s work. Clearly, the work of the entire team will be represented, and as such, you should acknowledge this during the presentation. However, video segments should focus on your work in the room.

We also encourage inclusion of client voices in the presentation; this could take the form of follow-up interviews (videotaped if possible), letter writing, or video segments of the clients’ active participation in co-directing the therapy. Thus, we do not expect you to simply show evidence of your own interventions or “expertise.” We hope, rather, that the presentations will demonstrate your ability to work relationally and involve clients in the process of therapy. In this spirit, if you use practicum cases, we encourage you to consult with, and perhaps interview, colleagues who served on the team during the case, as they may have invaluable input in the development of the presentation.

Students may request feedback from faculty on ideas for your presentation, and students may certainly discuss with the faculty cases they are considering for the Clinical Exam. However, faculty members may not assist students with any aspect of preparing the video or scripting the presentation. Students will provide a concise, clear, and referenced handout (to be given to all audience members) that briefly describes the case to be presented, the focus of each of the video segments, and the clinical and theoretical influences on the work. The rationale guiding the clinical work should be included, allowing audience members to follow the presentation clearly. All identifying material about clients should be disguised, and transcript materials distributed at the exam should be re-collected by the presenter when finished.

Because we view this as an opportunity for you to demonstrate growth and development as a clinician within this program’s community, the presentation will be open to all NSU family therapy faculty and doctoral students. All doctoral students are encouraged to attend in order to both show their support and to contribute to the professional conversations that will result. Given the clinical (and thus confidential) nature of the presentation, you may not invite family members or friends outside the program.

Students will present for a maximum of one hour. Videotaped segments should contribute no more than 20 minutes of this time, and should be selected carefully to represent specific points. Lengthy, content-based segments should not be shown. The presentation should focus on the progression of the case and the clinical work itself rather than on ancillary details about the family. After one hour, a member of the faculty committee will moderate a 30-minute question and answer session. At the end of this discussion, you and all audience members will be dismissed. The faculty will each complete an evaluation of your performance, including numerical ratings on specific criteria and narrative comments (see below). The program director will inform you of the results of the Exam within 48 hours. The Clinical and the Course Comprehensive Exams must be successfully passed in order for a student to officially begin their Applied Clinical Project.

To pass the Clinical Qualifying Exam, students must receive an average grade of 4 or higher (on a five-point scale) on at least 6 of the criteria listed below. If a student receives an average score of less than a 4 on any of the criteria, the faculty may recommend they complete remedial work. If a student receives an average score of less than 4 on four or more of the criteria, less than 3 on three or more criteria, or a 1 on any criteria, they will be required to deliver a second presentation within 6 months. If a student does not satisfactorily pass a second Clinical Qualifying Exam, they will not be allowed to continue in the program.

Criteria for Evaluation of the Clinical Qualifying Exam

  1. Clear and concise presentation
  2. Well-edited, high quality video (including audio)
  3. Clear demonstration of clinical skills (joining; strong and effective relationship with client; respect for and use of client resources, both in and out of therapy room; good case management, where applicable)
  4. Clear demonstration of theoretical clarity (evidence of how clinical skills are informed by theoretical perspective)
  5. Continuity between video and oral presentation (clear contextualizing of video segments; coherent follow-up discussion of each segment)
  6. Evidence of attention to ethical issues (as applicable)
  7. Professional demeanor (dress; language; respect for audience and clients; effective handling of questions)
  8. Useful and clear accompanying written material


2. Research Qualifying Exam
After successfully completing all of the required research courses (SFTD 5007, SFTD 5410, SFTD 6410, SFTD 6430, and SFTD 7350), a student is then eligible to take the Research Qualifying Exam. This is a comprehensive assessment of your knowledge of qualitative and quantitative designs and methods. You must pass this exam (and the Substantive Qualifying Exam) before being approved to enroll for dissertation credits.

Questions for the exam, submitted and graded by research faculty, will assess your ability to critique, create, and compare different aspects of qualitative and quantitative research studies, including research methodology, design, ethics, data gathering, data analysis, and computer based research programs (e.g. SPSS).

The exam will include equal numbers of questions to assess your knowledge of quantitative and qualitative research methods and practices. These questions will be based on a recent journal article from one of the major marriage and family therapy journals. Each question is assigned a numerical assessment of 3 (excellent), 2 (adequate), or 1 (inadequate) by each of the faculty evaluators. The scores for each question are then averaged across evaluators. A student must attain a cumulative average score of 16 or above to pass the examination.

If a student fails the exam, they may take it a second time. A re-examination is given 6 months after the initial exam, and it consists of the same examination format. If a student fails the exam twice, they will not be allowed to continue in the program.

3. Substantive Qualifying Exam
This exam requires a student to write a publishable-quality paper on a topic that is relevant to the field of family therapy. Students usually register for the substantive qualifying exam as part of the summer registration of their second year in the program. There is no charge for taking the exam. Once you are registered, you are considered by us and Financial Aid to be enrolled full-time in the program. When you pass your qualifying exam, the date will be officially noted on your transcript.

The exam in due on the first day of business in July. You must be in good standing in the program in order to be allowed to submit it. Students who are on academic probation must meet with the program director and a faculty committee in order to determine whether they will be allowed to submit an exam.

You may not submit a qualifying exam earlier than the summer of your second year in the program. Late submissions are not accepted unless permission has been granted by the doctoral program director. Three members of the faculty serve as a review committee for the paper, as if they were members of an editorial board for a family therapy journal.

The initial submission should include four copies of your paper and one copy of a signed letter that makes reference to the title of the article, briefly describes the content, and names a particular juried family therapy journal for which it would be relevant. Your work is blind reviewed, so ensure that your name does not appear on the title page or in the body of the article. The program coordinator will keep the original letter and attach copies (with your name masked) to the copies of your paper before distributing them to your reviewers.

The text of the paper, exclusive of the title page, abstract, and references, may not exceed 25 pages. Papers, which must follow stylistic guidelines of the newest edition of the American Psychological Association Publication Manual (APA 5), may be case studies, research reports, theoretical essays, or professional issue position papers. If you write a case study or a research report, you must preserve, until the paper has passed the process, the data on which the work is based (e.g., videotapes, detailed case notes of clinical work, research protocols, transcripts), as well as the signed informed-consent forms of the participants.

The faculty committee members read, make comments on, and evaluate your paper on a total of fourteen criteria, each of which is given a numerical rating between 1 and 3. A 3 on a criterion means that you successfully demonstrated skill in that area. A 2 means that you inconsistently demonstrated the criterion. A 1 means that you failed to demonstrate the criterion. The results for the exams are determined in the following way:

V -- Pass: No 1s; no more than one 2
IV -- Pass, return ASAP with minor changes: No 1s; no more than three 2s
III -- Resubmit with changes at next submission date: One 1; or more than three 2s
II -- Resubmit with major changes within one year: Two 1s; or one 1 and more than three 2s
I -- Fail: Three or more 1s

Criteria 1 and 2 (Writing skills and Adherence to APA conventions) are divided into a number of subcategories, each of which addresses a specific component of the criterion as a whole. Each subcategory is given a check when there are fewer than three errors of this type noted throughout the paper. When three or more errors on a particular subcategory are present in a paper, that subcategory is given an x.

The numerical assessment of criteria 1 and 2 is determined by the number of xs given to the subcategories within them. When there are one or no xs within a criterion, it is assessed as a 3. Two xs given to subcategories in a criterion translates into a 2, and more than two xs result in an overall score of 1 for the criterion.

To pass the exam, you must obtain a IV or higher when the assessments from the three faculty reviewers are averaged. Once you have passed, you may still need to make changes in your document before submitting a clean and final draft for official acceptance and placement in the school library. Such changes are coordinated through your dissertation chair, whether or not this faculty member was part of your qualifying exam review committee. (Students who have not yet decided upon or approached a faculty member to serve as chair may designate any full-time faculty member in the department to serve as an interim chair for the purpose of coordinating final changes to the qualifying exam.)

The chair will read the paper and each of the reviewers' comments and suggestions, and, if necessary, will discuss them with the reviewers in order to clarify the requested changes. The chair will then work with you to help you satisfy any outstanding concerns. Once the chair determines that you have successfully made the necessary changes, he or she will approve the paper for submission to the library. This revision must be submitted no later than the next qualifying exam submission date (approximately 6 months). This approval will be documented with a signature and date on an unnumbered signature page, inserted between the title page and abstract (see Appendix I for a qualifying exam signature page template.) The student will then take the signed exam to the Program Coordinator, who will place it in the school library.

If you obtain less than a IV average, you must wait until the next submission date (in the first week in January) before resubmitting your paper. If you obtain less than a III average, you may wait up to a year before resubmitting your paper. If you obtain less than a II average, you fail the exam. If you fail the qualifying exam twice, you will be dismissed from the program.

Papers that are resubmitted, whether with minor corrections or major changes (even to the extent that an entirely new paper has been written) must include a letter that specifies in detail how you have responded to each of the reviewers' concerns and comments. A sample of such a letter can be obtained from the program office.

Criteria assessed for the qualifying papers are as follows:

    1. Writing skills: accurate typing and spelling, predominant use of active voice, correct use of tenses, agreement of subjects and verbs, no misplaced or dangling modifiers, parallel construction, non-sexist and non-ethnically-biased language, correct use of punctuation, complete sentences, appropriate introduction of quotes, others as specified.
    2. Adherence to APA conventions Underlining: headings and subheadings, seriation, quotations, reference list construction, citations, line spacing, spacing after punctuation, margins, abstract, title page, running head.
    3. Tone of voice appropriate to a juried journal and the intended audience
    4. Concise, well constructed, and flowing sentences
    5. Concise, well constructed, and coherent paragraphs
    6. Concise and coherent presentation, development, and application of ideas
    7. A clear relationship between introduction, body of paper, and conclusion
    8. Inclusion and organization of sections appropriate to the type of article (i.e. theory, case study, or research)
    9. A comprehensive literature review with appropriate citation of sources
    10. A literature review appropriate to the topic and the balance of the paper
    11. Relevance of the topic to family therapy
    12. Originality
    13. Accuracy of theoretical/clinical/research/historical assertions
    14. Comprehensive coverage of relevant theoretical, clinical, ethical, research, and/or historical issues

The committee reading your qualifying exam operates like an editorial board for a professional journal, and we thus make the same stipulations of you that the board of JMFT or Family Process would make: Your paper must be original--that is, it must have been written solely by you--and it cannot have been published previously, nor be in consideration for publication.

It is appropriate and acceptable for you to have your classmates read and comment in a general way on your work; however, under no circumstances can anyone but you compose any part of your paper. (See catalog below for a description of plagiarism.) You are encouraged to talk to faculty members before your first submission and/or embarking on revisions. They may discuss ideas and go through a detailed outline with you; however, they may not review drafts of the text itself.

A number of students whose papers have passed the qualifying exam process have had them published in a variety of journals, including Family Process, JMFT, and Journal of Systemic Therapies. However, as noted above, you must wait until you have completed any required revisions and your paper has been passed by your committee before you can send it for outside review.

Clinical Internship
Clinical Internship is designed to provide the student with a supervised, full time experience of at least nine months duration, emphasizing relationally focused practice and/or research. The majority of a student’s course requirements must be completed before they can start their internship experience. They must also have successfully completed their clinical comprehensive examination, and have submitted both their substantive qualifying exam and their research comprehensive exam. An AAMFT Approved Supervisor or the equivalent will supervise the intern’s clinical work.

The institution sponsoring the internship site(s) will have been in operation for at least two years. Internship site(s) will provide adequate facilities and equipment for the intern to carry out designated responsibilities.

The Supervision and Teaching Course and Practica
Before taking Supervision and Teaching (SFTD 6310), a student must have successfully passed Clinical Practicum II (SFTD 6220). You must obtain faculty approval for taking either Supervision Practicum (SFTD 6320) or Teaching Practicum (SFTD 7360). Typically, these practica will entail your assisting a faculty member in teaching or supervising a master's level course, though in some instances, helping with doctoral courses is possible.

To obtain permission to take either a supervision or a teaching practicum, the student should seek out the faculty member they wish to work with, and specify what capacity they would like to work with them. If the faculty member agrees to work with the student, the student should then write a brief note or email to the program director, detailing what they will do and with whom. Such notice should be given well in advance of that trimester’s registration.

Dissertation
Specific details about how to go about writing your dissertation can be found in the school's Dissertation Guidelines, available from the program office and online. You may begin enrolling in dissertation hours once you have successfully passed both your research and substantive qualifying exams. You must take a minimum of two hours of dissertation credit per trimester. Two hours of dissertation is considered by the program to be full-time enrollment. Students must continue to register for dissertation hours until they complete and successfully defend their document. This may entail taking more than the minimum 12 dissertation credit hours stipulated in the catalog. If, for some reason, you cannot continue working on your dissertation, you must apply in writing for a leave of absence. If you request a leave for longer than a trimester or take a second trimester-long leave, you may not be able, upon your return, to continue with the chair with whom you had earlier been working.

Individual Supervision for State Licensure or AAMFT
There may be occasions after the completion of formal course work when doctoral students wish to seek private, individual clinical supervision from a member of the faculty. Before you approach a faculty member with such a request, you must have already successfully completed all four of your required practica and have successfully passed your qualifying exams. Since such supervision is not considered part of the curriculum, the contract between you and the supervisor, including frequency of meetings, responsibilities, and costs, will be settled privately between the two of you. The department stipulates that faculty members may not provide private clinical supervision for students whose dissertations they are chairing or serving as readers on.