Those with family therapist jobs are better than other medical professionals when it comes to treating patients.
"The Influence of Professional License Type on the Outcome of Family Therapy," a recent study from the School of Family Life at Brigham Young University, found that professionals with a marriage and family therapy license are better at treating patients for a reasonable price than other healthcare professionals.
The study examined treatment dropout, recidivism, and cost effectiveness data from 2001 to 2004 from health insurer CIGNA. Data was compared among marriage and family therapists, medical doctors, nurses, psychologists, social workers, and professional counselors.
The results of the study found that marriage and family therapists have the lowest patient dropout rates and recidivism among all of those professionals. They also are more cost effective than psychologists, doctors, and nurses.
"Clinically, the increase in number of sessions for MFTs may mean that MFTs are better able to identify deeply rooted systemic issues that take longer to mend," an analysis of the study from the International Family Therapy Association notes. "In such a case, an increase in cost would not be analogous to poor or undesirable outcome, but rather an indication that change may be slow, but meaningful, may not be applicable to real-world situations.
"In sum, the present study provides some of the first data regarding the effectiveness of marriage and family therapy as a profession rather than a treatment modality," the analysis continues. "The results indicate that training in marriage and family therapy is influential in the effective administration of this form of therapy."
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