Redefining the Role of Family Therapy in Psychiatric Residency Education

Abstract

In order to learn how psychiatry residents use family therapy training from residency in their clinical practices after graduation, the authors interviewed graduates from a large program in the metropolitan Northeast and a small program in the rural South. Graduates from both programs were using family therapy theory and skills to a greater extent than they had anticipated during residency. However, these skills were being used primarily to treat individual patients and to solve clinical and administrative problems in settings other than traditional couple and family therapies. Based on the findings, the authors suggest a restructuring of content and redefinition of role for family therapy training in psychiatry residencies.

The Relationship Between Psychiatrists' Couple and Family Therapy Training Experience and Their Subsequent Practice Profile

“…However, our findings are in agreement with the answers Ross Carter obtained to the same questions with a much smaller sample of subjects (Carter, 1990). Our graduates' responses also corroborate the finding of Slovik, Griffith, Forsythe, and Polles (1997) that C M T has a lasting influence on psychiatrists' worldview and practice, their understanding of institutional relationships, and their personal life.…”

“…The average respondent practices 1.3 hours per week of couple therapy and 1.6 hours per week of family therapy, a result almost identical to the 1.4 hours per week reported by Slovik et al (1997). All these graduates practice several forms of psychotherapy.…”

“…In their study of second-year residents, they demonstrated that therapeutic skills significantly improved after completion of a 10-month family therapy training program. Slovik, Griffith, Forsythe, and Polles (1997) interviewed graduates of two residency training programs in child and adolescent psychiatry, obtaining a response rate of 31/38 (81.6%) for one program and 21/21 (100%) for the other. They conducted comparable, semistructured face-to-face or telephone interviews with each respondent and provide some quantified data.…”

Medical family therapy in an inpatient psychiatric setting: A qualitative study.

“…A primary goal of doing so is to prepare the relational environment of the patient for reintegration and vice versa. A helpful way to find out if the system and patient are ready to reintegrate is to get the patient and those individuals together into the room to observe and facilitate their plan for success, which is a role MedFTs are uniquely qualified to fulfill (Slovik et al, 1997).…”

Family Systems Training in Psychiatric Residencies

“…Young practicing psychiatrists, when polled, stated that family skills were the least taught during residency and among the skills most needed after graduation (Guttman, 1999; Slovik, Griffith, Forsythe, & Polles, 1997). These psychiatrists were, however, using the knowledge they had about systems with their individual patients and in their work with larger systems.…”