A summary report of cost-effectiveness: Recognizing the value of family therapy in health care

Abstract

Results from studies conducted over the past 30 years within established medical systems demonstrate that family therapy is an effective and relatively inexpensive modality of psychotherapy treatment (e.g., Crane & Payne, 2011). In addition, as a group of independently licensed treatment providers, Marriage and Family Therapists (MFTs) provide care that is as cost-effective as other behavioral health provider groups (Moore, Hamilton, Crane, & Fawcett, 2011). These providers are also associated with less therapy dropout, which suggests that patients are receiving at least average care (Hamilton, Moore, Crane, & Payne, 2011). The current chapter is an update and expansion of Crane (2008), which reviewed studies through 2007 that dealt with family therapy as a treatment modality, but did not summarize the findings regarding MFT as a behavioral health discipline. In particular, this chapter elaborates on findings that are relevant to health, health care, and health utilization (i.e., results that may be particularly informative for medical family therapists [MedFTs]). The authors focus most particularly on Marriage and Family Therapy because analyses for these studies were done according to type of license. Therefore, MFT is a more accurate descriptor than family therapy, relational therapy, or medical family therapy.