INSTRUCTIONS:

The four questions below require considerable thought and mulling over. Remember that your task, above all, is to demonstrate your learning and application of your learning, especially since the midterm. Integrate material from the reading liberally and often.

1. Empirical article critique.

In chapter one of the Clinical Handbook of Couple Therapy (Gurman, Lebow & Snyder, 2015), Gurman (2015) discussed the necessity of empirically supported treatments (ESTs) to answer such important questions as how powerful and durable the effects of change from couples therapy are.

Conduct a library search to find one empirical study published in the last five years on some aspect of couples or family therapy. The most prestigious journals in the field are Family Process and the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, though an empirical article from any peer-reviewed journal will do as long as it addresses some aspect of couples or family therapy. Feel free to ask me about the article you’ve chosen, if you are unsure of its suitability.

A. Provide a reference for the article in APA-format. (3 pts.)

B. Label and address the following sections:
a. Hypotheses–in one-two sentences (5 pts.)
b. Method (5 pts.)
c. Results (5 pts.)
d. Discussion–your critique of the merits of the research as informed by your learning this term and especially since the midterm. (7 pts.)

NOTE: If you are unable to address these sections, then your article is most likely not an empirical one. Theoretical articles, in other words, are not acceptable. Neither will write-ups of case studies be, with rare exception.