New practice domains are opening up for practitioners of family therapy in the medical, organizational, and human relations fields. In this new environment, family therapy educators and supervisors are required to cross the epistemological spaces of scientist-practitioner, postmodernism, and critical theory. These new possibilities require that family therapist educators become comfortable moving between multiple epistemologies. This poses increasing challenges that will require a hybridization of knowledge and practice approaches in MFT education. Through focus groups consisting of 34 participants, all of who were in their first quarter of a Master’s degree program in Marriage and Family Therapy. We found a rich set of themes that reflect the experiences of students in their first quarter of learning multiple, potentially contradictory theories. The data that emerged reflect both the deep and varied student experiences that took place as they were introduced to multiple perspectives in their first quarter, as well as student desires that they would have liked to have had met during their experience. The results in each of these areas uniquely inform potential future MFT pedagogical practices.
","abstract_html":"<p>New practice domains are opening up for practitioners of family therapy in the medical, organizational, and human relations fields. In this new environment, family therapy educators and supervisors are required to cross the epistemological spaces of scientist-practitioner, postmodernism, and critical theory. These new possibilities require that family therapist educators become comfortable moving between multiple epistemologies. This poses increasing challenges that will require a hybridization of knowledge and practice approaches in MFT education. Through focus groups consisting of 34 participants, all of who were in their first quarter of a Master’s degree program in Marriage and Family Therapy. We found a rich set of themes that reflect the experiences of students in their first quarter of learning multiple, potentially contradictory theories. The data that emerged reflect both the deep and varied student experiences that took place as they were introduced to multiple perspectives in their first quarter, as well as student desires that they would have liked to have had met during their experience. The results in each of these areas uniquely inform potential future MFT pedagogical practices.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Hoff, Christopher Russell"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Counseling and Family Sciences","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Distelberg, Brian","Moline, Mary","Oloo, Winetta","Tuttle, Amy"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2016,"date_issued":"2016-06-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2016-06-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:52:38Z","subjects":["Counseling","Marriage and Family Therapy and Counseling","Psychology","Social and Behavioral Sciences","Marital Therapy; Family Therapy; Discourse analysis -- Narrative","Pedagogy; Epistemology; Narrative Analysis"],"languages":["English"],"rights":["This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has granted Loma Linda University a limited, non-exclusive right to make this publication available to the public. The author retains all other copyrights."],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholarsrepository.llu.edu/etd/388","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Distelberg, Brian","Moline, Mary","Oloo, Winetta","Tuttle, Amy"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Hoff, Christopher Russell"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Counseling and Family Sciences"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Counseling","Marriage and Family Therapy and Counseling","Psychology","Social and Behavioral Sciences","Marital Therapy; Family Therapy; Discourse analysis -- Narrative","Pedagogy; Epistemology; Narrative Analysis"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["English"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has granted Loma Linda University a limited, non-exclusive right to make this publication available to the public. The author retains all other copyrights."]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholarsrepository.llu.edu/etd/388"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["New practice domains are opening up for practitioners of family therapy in the medical, organizational, and human relations fields. In this new environment, family therapy educators and supervisors are required to cross the epistemological spaces of scientist-practitioner, postmodernism, and critical theory. These new possibilities require that family therapist educators become comfortable moving between multiple epistemologies. This poses increasing challenges that will require a hybridization of knowledge and practice approaches in MFT education. Through focus groups consisting of 34 participants, all of who were in their first quarter of a Master’s degree program in Marriage and Family Therapy. We found a rich set of themes that reflect the experiences of students in their first quarter of learning multiple, potentially contradictory theories. The data that emerged reflect both the deep and varied student experiences that took place as they were introduced to multiple perspectives in their first quarter, as well as student desires that they would have liked to have had met during their experience. The results in each of these areas uniquely inform potential future MFT pedagogical practices.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Developmental Pedagogy in Marriage and Family Therapy Education"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Distelberg, Brian","Moline, Mary","Oloo, Winetta","Tuttle, Amy"],"dc:creator":["Hoff, Christopher Russell"],"dc:description.abstract":["New practice domains are opening up for practitioners of family therapy in the medical, organizational, and human relations fields. In this new environment, family therapy educators and supervisors are required to cross the epistemological spaces of scientist-practitioner, postmodernism, and critical theory. These new possibilities require that family therapist educators become comfortable moving between multiple epistemologies. This poses increasing challenges that will require a hybridization of knowledge and practice approaches in MFT education. Through focus groups consisting of 34 participants, all of who were in their first quarter of a Master’s degree program in Marriage and Family Therapy. We found a rich set of themes that reflect the experiences of students in their first quarter of learning multiple, potentially contradictory theories. The data that emerged reflect both the deep and varied student experiences that took place as they were introduced to multiple perspectives in their first quarter, as well as student desires that they would have liked to have had met during their experience. The results in each of these areas uniquely inform potential future MFT pedagogical practices.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://scholarsrepository.llu.edu/etd/388"],"dc:language":["English"],"dc:rights":["This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has granted Loma Linda University a limited, non-exclusive right to make this publication available to the public. The author retains all other copyrights."],"dc:subject":["Counseling","Marriage and Family Therapy and Counseling","Psychology","Social and Behavioral Sciences","Marital Therapy; Family Therapy; Discourse analysis -- Narrative","Pedagogy; Epistemology; Narrative Analysis"],"dc:title":["Developmental Pedagogy in Marriage and Family Therapy Education"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Counseling and Family Sciences"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:52:38Z"}