Training Marriage and Family Therapists in Formal Assessment: Contributions to Students’ Familiarity, Attitude, and Confidence

Studies suggest that few practicing marriage and family therapists use formal assessments and even fewer use systemic assessments. Given the potential value of formal assessment to both clinicians and clients, we surveyed current marriage and family therapy students (N = 91) about their familiarity, attitude, and confidence in training with assessment. Experience using assessments predicted familiarity. Having a supervisor that valued assessments predicted familiarity and confidence in training. The number of courses taken in assessment was not predictive of familiarity, attitude, or confidence. Implications for training and future research are discussed.