{"id":{"repo_id":"vt","oai_identifier":"oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/31771"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/vt/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/31771","repository":{"repo_id":"vt","name":"Virginia Tech","base_url":"https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Beginning Female Therapists' Experiences of Applying Theory into Their Practice","abstract":"Although there is an extensive amount of literature on the developmental stages of beginning therapists and the challenges they face, little is known about one of their most difficult challenges; transferring theory learned in class to their practice. This study is a qualitative look at how beginning therapists learn to apply theory to their practice. Ten students who were beginning therapists with at least 75 hours of client contact hours were interviewed from four different universities with accredited marriage and family therapy programs. The study was conducted using a phenomenological perspective to explore how beginning therapists begin to apply theory to their practice. Using the constant comparison method of analysis, five major themes emerged from the interviews as well as a general developmental process that help to describe how beginning therapists apply theory to their practice. The main themes found include before seeing clients, early process of theory application, what was helpful, later process of theory application and a reflection of that process. Implications for beginning therapists and training programs as well as future research are indicated.","abstract_html":"Although there is an extensive amount of literature on the developmental stages of beginning therapists and the challenges they face, little is known about one of their most difficult challenges; transferring theory learned in class to their practice. This study is a qualitative look at how beginning therapists learn to apply theory to their practice. Ten students who were beginning therapists with at least 75 hours of client contact hours were interviewed from four different universities with accredited marriage and family therapy programs. The study was conducted using a phenomenological perspective to explore how beginning therapists begin to apply theory to their practice. Using the constant comparison method of analysis, five major themes emerged from the interviews as well as a general developmental process that help to describe how beginning therapists apply theory to their practice. The main themes found include before seeing clients, early process of theory application, what was helpful, later process of theory application and a reflection of that process. Implications for beginning therapists and training programs as well as future research are indicated.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Anastasiou, Maria S."],"institution":"Virginia Tech","degree_name":"Master of Science","degree_level":"masters","degree_discipline":"Human Development","degree_department":"Human Development","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":["Stith, Sandra M."],"committee_members":["McCollum, Eric E.","Huebner, Angela J."],"year":2006,"date_issued":"2006-04-17","date_published":"2006-04-17","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:56:30Z","subjects":["Beginning Therapists","Theory Application","Stages of Learning","Transferring Theory to Practice"],"languages":[],"rights":["In Copyright"],"rights_urls":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["etd-04192006-141948"],"render_values":[{"text":"etd-04192006-141948","href":null,"code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/10919/31771","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.committeechair","label":"Committee Chair","values":["Stith, Sandra M."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.committeemember","label":"Committee Member","values":["McCollum, Eric E.","Huebner, Angela J."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["Human Development"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Anastasiou, Maria S."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2014-03-14T20:33:53Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2014-03-14T20:33:53Z","2011-09-05"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2006-04-17"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Virginia Tech"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Human Development"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["masters"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Beginning Therapists","Theory Application","Stages of Learning","Transferring Theory to Practice"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["In Copyright"]},{"key":"dc:rights.uri","label":"Rights URI","values":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["etd-04192006-141948"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/10919/31771"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Although there is an extensive amount of literature on the developmental stages of beginning therapists and the challenges they face, little is known about one of their most difficult challenges; transferring theory learned in class to their practice. This study is a qualitative look at how beginning therapists learn to apply theory to their practice. Ten students who were beginning therapists with at least 75 hours of client contact hours were interviewed from four different universities with accredited marriage and family therapy programs. The study was conducted using a phenomenological perspective to explore how beginning therapists begin to apply theory to their practice. Using the constant comparison method of analysis, five major themes emerged from the interviews as well as a general developmental process that help to describe how beginning therapists apply theory to their practice. The main themes found include before seeing clients, early process of theory application, what was helpful, later process of theory application and a reflection of that process. Implications for beginning therapists and training programs as well as future research are indicated."]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["Master of Science"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Beginning Female Therapists' Experiences of Applying Theory into Their Practice"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.committeechair":["Stith, Sandra M."],"dc:contributor.committeemember":["McCollum, Eric E.","Huebner, Angela J."],"dc:contributor.department":["Human Development"],"dc:creator":["Anastasiou, Maria S."],"dc:date.accessioned":["2014-03-14T20:33:53Z"],"dc:date.available":["2014-03-14T20:33:53Z","2011-09-05"],"dc:date.issued":["2006-04-17"],"dc:description.abstract":["Although there is an extensive amount of literature on the developmental stages of beginning therapists and the challenges they face, little is known about one of their most difficult challenges; transferring theory learned in class to their practice. 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