Iva Kosutic

Raising Critical Consciousness in Family Therapy Supervision

Although family therapy literature reflects an increased consideration of cultural and contextual issues, there is little guidance on how to address intersecting forms of oppression and privilege within the supervisory system. In this article, we show the importance of critical consciousness in addressing these issues. Additionally, we provide concrete suggestions and tools for developing critical consciousness through supervision. The practices and tools we provide resulted from ongoing and deliberate discussions of an inquiry group that consisted of supervisor candidates and supervisors of supervision. Our goal in writing this article is to describe the strategies that we have found to be crucial in becoming more competent supervisors and therapists.

The Measurement of Outcome Variables in Couple and Family Therapy Research

Measurement constitutes a central issue in determining effectiveness of couple and family therapy (CFT). A review of 274 CFT outcome studies published in 25 mental health journals between 1990 and 2005 is presented. Goals of this review were to (1) provide a broad, empirically based overview of CFT outcome research, (2) examine measurement of treatment outcomes, and (3) appraise reporting practices. Findings indicate that a wide range of instruments continue to be used in CFT outcome research, although a foundation for a more integrated and coherent assessment battery has been established. Implications for the field are discussed.

Diversity and Social Justice Issues in Family Therapy Literature: A Decade Review

ABSTRACT In this paper, we report on our (a) review of diversity and social justice issues as represented across articles published in five family therapy journals between 1995 and 2005, and (b) in-depth analysis of the content of diversity and social justice related articles in one of the five journals (the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy [JMFT]) during the same time period. Our primary goal is to contribute to the discourse on diversity and social justice by examining how frequently these issues have been discussed across family therapy journals and in what ways they are talked about. The results of our research indicate that there has been an overall increase in articles focusing on diversity and social justice over time, although some dimensions of cultural identity, including class, age, and nation of origin, have been severely underrepresented. Our in-depth analysis of articles in the JMFT yielded trends in how diversity and social justice have been discussed as well as suggestions for clinical practice.

The Critical Genogram: A Tool for Promoting Critical Consciousness

In this article, we present the Critical Genogram (CritG) and illustrate its use in helping therapists move toward deeper understanding of the influence of social and institutional systems on individual and familial dynamics. We present the results of a qualitative study that evaluated the exercise of constructing and presenting the CritG in a family therapy graduate course. Using feminist-informed critical multicultural lens, we examined the use of the CritG exercise in helping family therapy students move toward critical consciousness. Our findings indicate that the CritG exercise provides valuable insight into the impact of social, political, and economic systems on individual and family life. Furthermore, it opens up space for creating new meanings and ways of conceptualizing familial and individual processes. Implications for therapist training and clinical practice are discussed.

Effective Police Interactions With Youth: A Program Evaluation

This article presents evaluation results of a police training curriculum to reduce disproportionate minority contact (DMC). The Effective Police Interactions With Youth training curriculum is developed in conjunction with a police task group to address the greater proportion of minority youth entering the juvenile justice system relative to the number of White youth. A pretest—posttest experimental design that included follow-up is used to assess changes in patrol officers’ knowledge of and attitudes toward youth. A total of 468 Connecticut patrol officers participate in the evaluation. Results support the effectiveness of the training curriculum in enhancing police officers’ knowledge of DMC, youth behavior, and effective strategies for interacting with youth.

Systemic and Ecological Qualities of Families

Systems theory and its offspring family systems theory have evolved and matured over the course of some 4 decades. The developmental history of family systems theory has been rich. If a theory is judged by its utility, or as Kuhn (1962) proposed, by the number of adherents it wins in the scientific community, then family systems theory has accomplished much. It has informed theorists, researchers, educators, and clinical practitioners from a variety of disciplines including education (Eppler & Weir, 2009), nursing (Bell, 2009), social work (Dunst & Trivette, 2009), psychiatry (Schweitzer, Zwack, Weber, Nicolai, & Hirschenberger, 2007), medicine (Steinglass, 2006), public health (Novilla, Barnes, De La Cruz, Williams, & Rogers, 2006), religion (Richardson, 2005), and marriage and family therapy (Bartle-Haring & Slesnick, 2012).

Peace on Earth/War at Home: The Role of Emotion Regulation in Social Justice Work

The present article discusses the role of emotions in translating critical awareness of social inequities into action. Our work is premised on the assumption that emotions play a key role in social justice work by not only fueling capacity for resistance but also hindering ability to resist injustice effectively or even prompting unwitting contribution to oppression. Drawing from the clinical psychology literature, we introduce the concepts of psychological flexibility, emotion regulation, and mindfulness to the discourse on social justice in therapy and counseling. We argue that emotion regulation enhances our capacity for social justice work. We entertain the following questions: Is social justice work influenced by emotions? Do emotions hinder or fuel our work to dismantle systems of injustice?

Centering The Voices Of International Students In Family Studies And Family Therapy Graduate Programs

In this article, we report the results of a survey that accessed the perceptions of family studies and family therapy international masters and doctoral students across the United States. Our goals included giving collective voice to the experience of international students and gathering their suggestions for improving programs. Themes that emerged from responses to open- and closed-ended questions included feeling (mis)understood and (de)valued; forming personal connections and experiencing marginalization; the importance of including international perspectives in curricula; considering the relevance/transferability of knowledge; and attending to barriers to learning. Based on the results, we share suggestions for improving family studies and family therapy graduate programs relative to program planning, curricula revision, teaching strategies, and faculty development.