Outcomes for Emerging Therapists: Synthesizing Two Decades of Trainee-Centered Research in C/MFT Master's Programs

In 2005, the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education announced its transition to an outcomes-based accreditation model for C/MFT training programs. This transition to outcomes-based C/MFT education was lauded for bringing newfound freedom to instructors in C/MFT graduate programs and for ushering a paradigm shift toward collaborative, student-responsive clinical pedagogy in C/MFT training. The current study utilized a systematic research synthesis approach to explore how trainees' experiences are being conceptualized in the empirical research on master's-level C/MFT following the field's transition to outcomes-based education. Results indicated that trainees' experiences within the training context are a prevalent element in recent training-focused research, with many studies presenting trainees' experiences as a relevant factor for understanding how a given training "input" influences a trainee's eventual development of training-related skill and competency outcomes. Recommendations for instructors, C/MFT faculty, and future research toward evidence-informed clinical pedagogy are provided.