Notes that outdoor adventure experiences, traditionally associated with programs like Outward Bound and Project Adventure, have evolved into specific interventions for number of therapeutic populations. Presents brief history and overview of documented use of adventure experiences in marriage and family therapy and enrichment. Offers illustrations…

Investigates the use of intervention rationales that matched the participants' positions of beliefs in marriage therapy. Participants rated each treatment recommendation for acceptability. A variety of interventions were utilized. The interventions paired with rationales. Participant positions were rated significantly more acceptable than…

Discusses some of the specific problems associated with the adoption of the family life-cycles (FLC) theory and paradigm in marriage and family therapy (MFT). Four ideas are offered as ways to "re-vision" the FLC paradigm in MFT in the areas of theory, research, and therapy. (Author/MKA)

Explores recent use of qualitative methodology in research relating to marriage and family counseling. The seven research articles described highlight the potential benefits and challenges qualitative methodology can have for the field of marriage and family counseling. (Author/MKA)

Explores the hypothesis that spouses involved in couples counseling will present similar intimacy complaints. Couples (N=100) described their expectations and perceptions of current marital intimacy. Results show that husbands and wives came to counseling with different intimacy complaints. Discusses implications of these results for case…

Divorced parents (n=14) and professionals (n=16) who work with divorced individuals were interviewed to examine how they experience the child access and visitation process. Findings identified problematic themes regarding child access and visitation, potential solutions, and suggested services that fall under the expertise of marriage and family…

Reviews the literature on sexual attraction in relation to the practice of marriage and family therapy and investigates how family-therapists-in-training regard this phenomenon. Results reveal that new therapists dealing with attraction in therapy encounter a myriad of emotional responses. Proposes that it is the clinical supervisor's…

This study examined relationship aggression reporting concordance among 303 men with alcohol use disorders and their female partners enrolled in couples-based alcohol abuse treatment. Agreement for physical and psychological aggression was generally consistent with, or higher than, concordance rates reported among other populations. Men's…

Behavioral couples' therapy has a long history of success with couples and is an empirically validated treatment for marital discord (Task Force on Promotion and Dissemination of Psychological Procedures, 1995). However, only about 50% of all couples in treatment experience long-term change (2 years). One of the founders of behavioral couples'…

Few studies have investigated therapist interns' growth experiences, both personal and professional, and the interplay between them. This qualitative study explored the reciprocal process of growth during clinical training: the personal life experiences that affect professional growth and the professional/clinical experiences that affect personal…

Sixteen married couples volunteered to participate in a 6-week empathy training program. Ten of the 16 couples observed and made comments about their taped interaction at the end of the program. Individuals watched the tape of their own interaction at the follow-up and were asked several qualitative questions, including what they noticed about…

Examined the value of assessing affect and attitudes in addition to daily behavior in the prediction of marital satisfaction. Multiple regression analyses and semipartial correlations indicated that the affective and attitudinal variables accounted for more unique variance in marital satisfaction than did the behavioral variables. (Author/ABB)

Outlines a treatment approach integrating behavioral and marital interventions for working with agoraphobics and their partners. Where interactions arouse anxiety, agoraphobes and significant others become embroiled in a circular transaction which causes mutual resentment and entrenched symptomatology. Suggests a method to help develop a…

Examines the use of the small group modality for providing helping services in religious settings and the use of religious-spiritual content in small helping groups. Includes a review and critique of various types of services, including group therapy, marital treatment, marriage enrichment, growth groups, and assertion training. (Author/ABB)

Reviews conceptual and methodological advances in understanding attributional processes in intimate relationships. Studies are organized according to their focus on general versus specific components of attribution making, and their use of distressed versus nondistressed samples. Results offer strong evidence of the importance of attributional…