TY - JOUR
T1 - Advancing Medical Family Therapy Through Research
T2 - A Consideration of Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed-Methods Designs
AU - Mendenhall, Tai J.
AU - Pratt, Keeley J.
AU - Phelps, Kenneth W.
AU - Baird, Macaran A.
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2012 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2012/6
Y1 - 2012/6
N2 - To survive in today's healthcare climate, stakeholders across all mental health disciplines must work to produce empirical evidence that earns their fields' regard by educators, providers, and policy makers. As the field of Medical Family Therapy (MedFT) answers this call, it will be important for researchers to clearly define, characterize, and assess MedFT practice across clinical, operational, and financial arenas of care. In this account, we propose a common lexicon from which to do this, highlighting the following core tenets of MedFT: systems theory, biopsychosocial-spiritual sensitivity in practice, agency, communion, interdisciplinary collaboration, and the three-world model of healthcare. We conclude by offering concrete ways to advance the MedFT research agenda using qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-method approaches.
AB - To survive in today's healthcare climate, stakeholders across all mental health disciplines must work to produce empirical evidence that earns their fields' regard by educators, providers, and policy makers. As the field of Medical Family Therapy (MedFT) answers this call, it will be important for researchers to clearly define, characterize, and assess MedFT practice across clinical, operational, and financial arenas of care. In this account, we propose a common lexicon from which to do this, highlighting the following core tenets of MedFT: systems theory, biopsychosocial-spiritual sensitivity in practice, agency, communion, interdisciplinary collaboration, and the three-world model of healthcare. We conclude by offering concrete ways to advance the MedFT research agenda using qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-method approaches.
KW - Collaborative family healthcare
KW - Integrated healthcare
KW - Medical Family Therapy
KW - Research agenda
KW - Research methods
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84861769249&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1007/s10591-012-9186-6
DO - 10.1007/s10591-012-9186-6
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84861769249
SN - 0892-2764
VL - 34
SP - 187
EP - 203
JO - Contemporary Family Therapy
JF - Contemporary Family Therapy
IS - 2
ER -