Employers' perceptions of Utah State University's marriage and family therapy program requirement

The purpose of this study was to assess the influence of program requirements on employability of Utah State University's (USU) marriage and family therapy (MFT) program graduates, the training and employability of USU MFT graduates, and whether or not there is anything that sets these graduates apart from graduates of other MFT programs. Nineteen employers participated in this study. Twelve of these employers were known to have hired USU MFT graduates as the graduates' first employment post-graduation, and seven of the participants were considered potential employers: those who could hire MFTs in the future. Questions were asked to these participants regarding seven major requirements of USU's MFT program. A six-point Likert scale was implemented where participants were able to rank the helpfulness of each requirement and the influence it might have on the hiring process. Participants were given prompts to provide comments or explanations of each question.