Clinician identified barriers to clinical research

Involvement of front-line clinicians in clinical studies is crucial for quality marriage and family therapy effectiveness research. To identify common barriers to clinical research, 326 clinical members of the American Association for Marital and Family Therapy from three geographically diverse states were asked to describe their willingness to participate in a hypothetical research project. Therapists cited time constraints, outside limitations, client concerns, and a lack of understanding about and involvement in the study as major reasons for refusal to participate. Recommendations for building collaborative relationships between clinicians and researchers as well as future research are addressed.