Medical Family Therapy: Advanced Applications - Paperback

by Jennifer Hodgson (Editor), Angela Lamson (Editor), Tai Mendenhall (Editor)

This is a much needed and long-awaited book as the field of medical family therapy reaches its current level of maturity. The authors are respected clinicians and researchers in the area and they share their expertise and wisdom in this book with elegance. An impressively practical book that is likely to become a very useful resource for all those looking for a "go to" book in this area!
- Sy Saeed, MD, MS, FACPsych
Professor and Chairman
Department of Psychiatric Medicine
Brody School of Medicine
East Carolina University
Editor-in-Chief
Journal of Psychiatric Administration and Management (JPAM)

As we seek to implement a medical system that meets the needs of all families, it is critical that we delineate and understand the skills, tasks and opportunities at every level of the healthcare process. Medical Family Therapists are at the core of this endeavor with a unique blend of clinical, organizational and leadership talents. More and more, these professionals are being invited to the table where they remind us to consider the family, and attend to the relationships within and between all involved in the delivery of efficient and effective care. This book guides the Medical Family Therapist as they step into these roles of influencing the influencers. It is a must read to understand the further complexities of the healthcare puzzle and the roles played in shaping a healthcare system that can both financially and physically heal us.
- Tina Schermer Sellers, PhD, LMFT
Department of Marriage & Family Therapy
Seattle Pacific University
Seattle, Washington

High praise to Hodgson, Lamson, Mendenhall, and Crane and in creating a seminal work for systemic researchers, educators, supervisors, policy makers and financial experts in health care. The comprehensiveness and innovation explored by every author reflects an in depth understanding that reveals true pioneers of integrated health care. Medical Family Therapy: Advances in Application will lead the way for Medical Family Therapists in areas just now being acknowledged and explored.
- Tracy Todd, PhD, LMFT
Executive Director of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy

Medical Family Therapy is a growing area of practice that is reflective of healthcare's need for professionals who are trained to develop integrated models of care. It is becoming widely-recognized by family therapists and other mental and medical professionals that professionals need to connect the complex facets of biomedical care and mental health treatment with individuals and families. Medical Family Therapy: Advanced Applications is the first text to focus on the advanced practice of the emerging field of Medical Family Therapy. This text offers up-to-date and in-depth insights into training, research and policy making it a perfect resource for the growing number of graduate programs in the field.

Back Jacket

"High praise to Hodgson, Lamson, Mendenhall, and Crane and in creating a seminal work for systemic researchers, educators, supervisors, policy makers and financial experts in health care. The comprehensiveness and innovation explored by every author reflects an in depth understanding that reveals true pioneers of integrated health care. Medical Family Therapy: Advanced Applications will lead the way for Medical Family Therapists in areas just now being acknowledged and explored."

- Tracy Todd, PhD, LMFT, Executive Director of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy

Integrated, interdisciplinary health care is growing in stature and gaining in numbers. Systems and payers are facilitating it. Patients and providers are benefiting from it. Research is supporting it, and policymakers are demanding it.

The emerging field of Medical Family Therapy (MedFT) is contributing greatly to these developments and Medical Family Therapy: Advanced Applications examines its implementation in depth. Leading experts describe MedFT as it is practiced today, the continuum of services provided, the necessary competencies for practitioners, and the biological, psychological, social, and spiritual aspects of health that the specialty works to integrate. Data-rich chapters model core concepts such as the practitioner as scientist, the importance of context in health care settings, collaboration with families and communities, and the centrality of the relational perspective in treatment. The book's wide-spectrum coverage takes in research, training, financial, and policy issues, among them:

• Preparing MedFTs for the multiple worlds of health care
• Extending platforms on how to build relationships in integrated care
• Offering a primer in program evaluation for MedFTs
• Ensuring health equity in MedFT research
• Identifying where policy and practice collide with ethics and integrated care
• Recognizing the cost-effectiveness of family therapy in health care

With its sophisticated insights into the current state - and the future - of healthcare reform, Medical Family Therapy: Advanced Applications is essential reading for researchers and practitioners in the fields of clinical psychology, counseling, family therapy, healthcare policy, medical family therapy, psychiatric nursing, psychiatry, public health, and social work.

Author Biography

The editors of this text are all nationally recognized scholars and educators in the areas of Medical Family Therapy and marriage and family therapy. Drs. Hodgson and Lamson have co- authored the first doctoral program in Medical Family Therapy in the United States with graduates in leadership, academic and clinical positions all across the country. Dr. Mendenhall, Hodgson and Lamson have designed training and clinical integrated care programs in primary, secondary and tertiary care settings. Dr. Crane has risen to the level of national recognition for his cost effectiveness research. All combined, these editors have over 300 publications, 600 presentations, 3 edited books and over 60 years of experience providing leadership, conducting research and training therapists to work in healthcare settings.