ETHICS EDUCATION IN MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPY GRADUATE PROGRAMS by Jean Elizabeth Lucas Daniels

Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in Family and Child Development

APPROVED: ____________________________ Dr. Howard Protinsky, Chairperson

______________________ Dr. Lee Baruth

______________________ Dr. Joseph Maxwell

______________________ Dr. Laurie Shea

______________________ Dr. Michael Sporakowski

June 21, 1996 Blacksburg, Virginia

Key Words: Ethics; Marriage and Family Therapy; Training; Education

ETHICS EDUCATION IN MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPY GRADUATE PROGRAMS Jean Lucas Daniels (ABSTRACT) Mental health professionals place value on education in the hopeful expectation that ethics instruction will provide the knowledge and awareness required to empower therapists to make ethical clinical decisions. This study examined the current status of ethics education in accredited and non accredited marriage and family therapy graduate programs in the United States and Canada. Surveys were sent to ethics instructors in 123 graduate programs, 72 of which have full or provisional accreditation by the AAMFT Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education. A total of 65 surveys were returned, resulting in an overall response rate of 53%. Information was gathered using a modified version of a survey designed by Vanek (1990) that examined eight areas of ethics training: 1) professional and educational characteristics of the instructor, 2) structure of ethics education, 3) instructional methods, 4) goals for ethics education, 5) specific content areas, 6) evaluation indices, 7) instructional materials, and 8) rationale for ethics education. Particular attention was placed on ethical content areas that are unique to a systemic approach to therapy. The future direction of ethics instruction was examined to determine whether instructors would significantly alter ethics education in the future. A series of paired t tests for within-group comparisons was used to determine if significant differences existed between the current and desired emphasis placed on 16 educational goals and 34 content areas. With the exception of four goals, there were statistically significant differences (p