Predictors of Change in Health Care Use After Marital and Family Therapy

The cost of health care continues to increase. Based on the biopsychosocial model of heath care, it has been shown that the treatment of psychological and social problems can have a cost offset effect on the cost of medical care. While this offset effect has been shown in an MFT population, there are no known studies that have looked at predictors of the change in medical use by those that receive marital and family therapy. This study looked at psychological and social measures of individuals who received marital and family therapy. These measures were evaluated based on the change from intake to one year post intake using best subsets multiple regression. The model for males showed variables that could be affected using a cognitive or cognitive-behavioral model of therapy. The model for females showed variables that could be affected using the emotionally focused model of therapy. The implications of this study are that a therapist could be the most effective in conjoint therapy if they apply concepts from both cognitive and emotionally focused therapeutic models.

Name thesis:degree_name

MS

Grantor dc:publisher

Brigham Young University - Provo

Author dc:creator

• Payne, Scott H.

• marriage and family therapy
• medical cost offset
• psychosocial predictors of medical use
• Family, Life Course, and Society

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/1098

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarsarchive.byu.edu:etd-2097