Marriage and Family Therapy Masters Students’ Diversity Course Experiences

ABSTRACT

In 2017, the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education implemented updated accreditation standards requiring course credits educating students on issues related to diversity, power, privilege, and oppression. This qualitative study explored students’ required diversity curricula experiences from accredited C/MFT master’s programs. Semi-structured interviews with master’s students (n = 20) from programs across 11 US states were conducted. Thematic analysis revealed 3 key themes which impacted student learning experiences: perceptions of safety, course materials and structure, and systemic influences. Study participants emphasized the importance of quality diversity education and provided valuable feedback on how to improve course development in accredited masters C/MFT programs.

KEYWORDS:

• Therapy
• diversity training
• curriculum
• C/MFT programs

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the study participants and the research team members (Taylor Carter, Taylor Ann Davis, Lauren Taylor Lablance, Madeleine Claire Lamb, and Adrian Edward Yzaguirre) for making this research possible.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).