This study is focused on clients' daily experiencing of stress, and measures how this stress might affect their implementation of ideas and recommendations from therapy. Typically, clients attend therapy with the intention of making positive changes. Part of the therapeutic process involves clients completing therapeutic work in their daily lives (Conklin, Strunk, Cooper, 2017); however, stressful tasks and other elements often preclude this therapeutic work from occurring (Kazantzis & L'Abate, 2005). In this study we examine which interventions from therapy are most likely to be attempted at home, and the level of stress in making these attempts. A series of multi-level models were used, controlling for daily stress and examining partner effects. This study will be viewed from the conceptual lenses of window of tolerance (Siegel, 1999) and the Yerkes-Dodson law (Hanoch, Vitouch, 2004) on stress.

No description available.

abstract: Adolescents experience a lot of stress from changes and difficulties in their physical appearance and their relationships—affecting their mental and emotional well-being as well as their family's relationships and functioning. Research has shown that family music therapy has been fairly successful in helping both children and adolescents and their families improve their communication and mutual attunement while encouraging self-expression in the child and teenager. However, the literature focuses mainly on families with children ages 10 and under, at-risk families, and non-clinical families. Little focus in the research literature is given to adolescents and their mental and emotional health concerns. The purpose of this thesis was two-fold: 1) to perform a systematic review and collect information from articles that used music interventions or music programs to address the mental health needs of families and adolescents, and 2) to develop a family music therapy program for teenagers with mental health concerns based on the research literature used for the systematic review. Fourteen articles were included in the study. The main interventions and programs were improvisation (n = 6), songwriting (n = 3), lyric analysis or song discussions on client-selected music for introspective and expressive purposes (n = 3), therapeutic singing (n =1) and structured group music making (n = 1). Common outcomes included improvement in the adolescents' self-expression and communication, restoration of family relationships, increased awareness of covert family issues, and improved family communication and interactions. The proposed six-week music therapy program is improvisation-based, considering the amount of improvisational interventions that were found in research. Session plans include interventions such as musical “icebreakers” and warm-ups, improvisation, lyric analysis, and a culminating songwriting experience. Keywords: family therapy, music therapy, adolescents, mental illness / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Music Therapy 2019

This study examined how current family counseling/therapy programs train students to work with families with young children and made recommendations for training in this area based on recommendations of child and family therapy experts and the research and clinical literature. These recommendations explored what knowledge and skills all students should acquire versus students who want to specialize with this population. Changes to accreditation standards were also proposed as well as a description of resources to support changes in program curricula. Current training was measured by examining curricula from master's level marriage and family counseling/therapy programs accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education (COAMFTE) and the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Education Programs (CACREP) and master's level social work programs with a family-related concentration accredited by the Council on Social Work Education Commission on Accreditation (CSWE), the accreditation standards from these three organizations, course syllabi from the COAMFTE and CACREP programs, and surveys of COAMFTE and CACREP program directors (60% response rate). Recommendations for training were obtained through a qualitative analysis of quotations from the literature concerning training and through interviews of child and family therapy experts (65% response rate). The results revealed the number of courses recommended by the literature and experts was much greater than the number of child-related courses per program and a great variety of textbooks were used. Accreditation standards also required little child-related course material. The on-campus clinics had low percentages of child-related facilities but high percentages of child-related resources. The results also showed the experts recommended much greater percentages of experiential activities than were required by the programs. Finally, a much larger percentage of experts than program directors agreed that accreditation standards should be changed to include more child-related courses.

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The development of a personal theory of therapy and change is an integral part of the training and educational philosophies of the Marriage and Family Therapy Program at Utah State University. This personal theory attempts to identify and explain each student's beliefs regarding the specific mechanisms by which change occurs, thus providing a therapeutic backbone from which one may integrate various interventions, ideas, concepts, and approaches to therapy. As one engages in the process of integration, it becomes critical for students to evaluate their performances. A thorough self-evaluation that includes the utilization of scientific methods leads to the development of important scientist-practitioner skills that may be difficult to obtain through any means. This study was designed to elucidate and investigate a single therapist's utilization and integration of hope theory in an effort to increase his ability to find, nurture, and engender greater hope in family therapy. Three individuals who presented for therapeutic services at the Utah State University marriage and family therapy clinic participated in the study. Eight therapy sessions were conducted. Each session was videorecorded and coded with an intervention checklist. The Outcome Questionnaire 45.2, Personal and Family Information Form, case notes, teammate/supervisory observation notes, personal reflection journal, DVD reflection journal, homework assignments, and a hope scaling question were used to assess hope as well as the therapist's decision-making process. The results of this study suggest that the therapist applied and integrated interventions consistent with hope theory during the course of therapy, which appeared to be beneficial to clients. The decision-making process of the therapist and the effects of the integration and utilization of hope theory upon the therapist were revealed. Other findings, implications, and limitations are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to explore and better understand termination in the field of marriage and family therapy, as well as to generate a working model of termination. Data were obtained from a total of 40 marriage and family therapists (MFTs) licensed in the state of Utah. Two research questions were posed about termination and how client type and treatment progress may influence the termination process: (1) Given that MFTs see individuals, couples, and families, are there differences and similarities across client types in regard to how therapy is terminated?; and (2) Does termination differ in regard to treatment progress (i.e., clients have been completely or partially successful in meeting the specified treatment objectives)? Data examined from these therapists suggested that marriage and family therapists terminate individuals, couples, and families in a similar, but not sequential, manner using six main steps: (1) plan for future problems, (2) review goals, (3) summarize treatment, (4) orientation to termination, (5) review skills and resources, and (6) empower clients. This model was compared to and analyzed against a four-step model conceptualized by Epstein and Bishop. The results not only produced a similar termination model to that of Epstein and Bishop, but added greater depth and clarification to the steps outlined in the model. The data also supported the idea that treatment progress may influence termination for couples and families, but did not support it for termination with individuals.

This study of 24 therapists and 64 family members representing 109 adolescent residents of six residential treatment centers aimed to better understand therapists' and family members' points of view about family involvement in residential treatment for troubled adolescents. The study also provided the therapists' and family members' recommendations for family involvement in residential treatment. Findings from this mixed-methods study suggest that (a) the families from this study were involved in many different ways in their adolescents' treatment, including phone calls, visits to the treatment center, participation in therapy, and so forth; (b) there were areas in which therapists and family members agreed (e.g., whether families used phone calls as a form of contact) and areas in which they disagreed about how involved the families were in treatment and therapy (e.g., how often any family member was involved in therapy with the adolescent); and (c) the therapists and family members recommended that families should be involved in therapy but recommend some forms of involvement over others.