CFT Curricula

Ph.D in HDFS, Specialization in Couple and Family Therapy

Core Departmental Requirements (42 credits)

  • HDFS 901: Contemporary Scholarship in Human Development and Family Studies
  • HDFS 999: Doctoral Dissertation Credits (24 credits)
  • Methodology and Statistics: 5 courses (15 credits) (HDFS 880 and CEP 932 will not count toward this requirement)
    • HDFS 982: Qualitative Research Methods
    • HDFS 983: Advanced Research Methods in CFT
    • At least 3 additional statistics/methods classes (9 credits), including a course in Analysis of Variance (e.g., HDFS 881) and a course in Multivariate Analysis (e.g., CEP 934).

Core Couple and Family Therapy Requirements (18 credits)

  • HDFS 888: Diverse Families and Communities: Intervention Strategies
  • HDFS 910: Contemporary CFT Theories
  • HDFS 911: Outcome Research: What works in CFT Therapies
  • HDFS 994: Sex Therapy
  • HDFS 995: Couple and Family Therapy Supervision

Electives (6 credits)

  • Additional courses relevant to the student’s interests and career plans

Clinical Requirements (6-13 credits)

  • HDFS 993: Internship in Couple and Family Therapy (6-13 credits)
  • Doctoral students are required to complete a total of 1,000 hours of direct client contact before graduating (pre-doctoral and doctoral combined)

Minimum credits in the doctoral program: 72 required credits, including 24 dissertation credit s and at least 6 credits of internship

NOTE: Students entering the doctoral specialization in Couple and Family Therapy will be required to meet equivalent of the master’s Standard Curriculum of the Commission on Accreditation of Marriage and Family Therapy Education (COAMFTE), as detailed in the MFT Educational Guidelines.