Family psychology specialty practice.

Abstract

The specialty of family psychology prepares practitioners to work systemically with individuals, couples, families, and larger social organizations. The specialty is defined, and a rationale is provided for its relevance to professional practice. Key concepts, competencies, and practice dimensions (e.g., assessment, case conceptualization, and intervention) are detailed, as are training and board certification in the specialty. Applications to specific problems and specialty niches are described.

In search of a global family psychology: Challenges and perspectives.

“…The term family psychology developed gradually. The American Psychological Association (APA) Division of Family Psychology (Division 43) was founded in 1984, and eventually changed to the Society for Couples and Family Psychology (Nutt & Stanton, 2008). Early in its development, the concept of family psychology was controversial; the major difficulty was in establishing clear boundaries between this subfield and that of family therapy.…”

A competency-based approach to couple and family therapy supervision.

“…However, because our focus is on psychotherapy and because the term therapy is more commonly used in the family psychology literature than the term intervention, we use the term therapy in this article. the therapist assesses the couple/family using circular questions, genogram assessments, enactments, sculpting, and/or questions about family rituals (McGoldrick, Gerson, & Petry, 2008;Nutt & Stanton, 2008). The systemic therapist recognizes those presenting problems for which family assessment and treatment are warranted and is attuned to family strengths and resources.…”

“…The competency of assessment provides the framework for developing a systemic case formulation, which necessitates examining individual, relational, and macrosystemic factors, and CFT treatment planning (Nutt & Stanton, 2008). Assessment may include a clinical interview with the family and various subsystems, traditional psychometric measures and observational techniques, and family systems specific techniques (e.g., genograms, enactments, etc.).…”

“…There has been interest in defining competencies for family psychology (Nutt & Stanton, 2008) and articulating a competencies-based approach to family psychology training (Kaslow, Celano, & Stanton, 2005). Attention has been given to the competencies required for psychiatry residents who work with families (Berman et al, 2006).…”

Assessment and Support Consultation: Enhancing Social Support for Sexual Offenders

“…This approach has also been recognized at a clinical level. Family psychologists, with their emphasis on understanding social contexts of individual behavior, have noted high rates of relapse in sexual offenders being treated individually, without consideration of the social environment to which they returned post-incarceration, or post-intervention (Nutt & Stanton, 2008).…”