Closing the Loop: Addressing Diversity in a COAMFTE-Accredited MFT Education Program
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Closing the Loop: Addressing Diversity in a COAMFTE-Accredited MFT Education Program Heather Katafiasz1 · Rikki Patton1 Accepted: 30 October 2020 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Diversity and inclusion have become key phrases within Marriage and Family Therapy education programs, particularly those accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education, as there are standards related to these concepts. However, consistent guidelines regarding how to infuse diversity and inclusion into Marriage and Family Therapy education are lacking. The current article provides an outline of one Marriage and Family Therapy education program’s preliminary efforts to ‘closing the loop’ on the instruction and evaluation of diversity and inclusion with the program. The closing the loop process involved six steps 1) explore the MFT literature and relevant organizations, 2) collect data from key practice oriented stakeholders using qualitative and quantitative measures, 3) review current procedures and brainstorm, 4) consult with key knowledge oriented stakeholders, 5) develop and implement a comprehensive and thorough assessment and evaluation plan, and 6) aggregate and evaluate data to engage in modification to the assessment plan as warranted. This paper has two goals. The first goal is that this paper will serve as an example for other programs who are struggling to infuse or demonstrate the infusion of diversity and inclusion within their programs. The second goal is to reflect on lessons learned from this program’s quality improvement process. Keywords Diversity and inclusion · Marriage and family therapy · Education · Training · Multicultural competence
Introduction The number of Marriage and Family Therapists (MFTs) have increased 50-fold since 1970 and those MFTs are providing clinical services to over 1.8 million people at any given time (American Associtation for Marriage and Family Therapist [AAMFT], n.d). With current issues related to social justice and intersectionality within Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) (Gutierrez, 2018) and particularly in the United States, existing as a prominent part of the dominant discourse, it is imperative that MFT trainees develop sound competence in diversity and inclusion so they can competently treat diverse clients. The infusion of diversity and inclusion into MFT education is not a new issue. For * Heather Katafiasz [email protected] Rikki Patton [email protected] 1
School of Counseling, College of Health Professions, University of Akron, 27 S. Forge Street, Akron, OH 44325, USA
instance, as far back as 1991, Hardy and Keller identified diversity as an emerging trend in MFT education. Almost 20 after, Woolley (2010) also identified that diversity is one of three areas of specialization that need to be more systemically infused into MFT education. Further, in the 2005 (version 11) publication of the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education (COAMFTE
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