ORIGINAL PAPER A Content Analysis for the Continued Identification of Medical Family Therapy Competencies Scott R. Michaels • Angela L. Lamson • Mark B. White • Susan L. McCammon • Priti Desai Published online: 12 October 2014 Ó Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014 Abstract Medical family therapy (MedFT) is an emerging profession—where family therapy and healthcare intersect— that has had dramatic growth in the past two decades. Although identifying MedFT skills and competencies undoubtedly began with the birth of the field, the first discrete and specific sets of MedFT skills and competencies were published in 2012. In this article, we discuss the competencies from health psychology, medical social work, and the existing lists of MedFT competencies. Through a content analysis, the competencies were coded and reorganized to identify ways to capture additional skills that could be added to the current MedFT competencies and are particularly relevant to the work of MedFTs. It became apparent through this content analysis that MedFT experts must identify competencies pertaining to training in relational health, research, and unique clinical skills. Recommendations are made to further build on the current MedFT competencies by: (a) prioritizing the family, collaboration, and interprofessional communication; (b) including more competencies regarding assessment, case management, consultation, administration, research, program evaluation, training, and supervision; and (c) creating com- petencies for all levels of proficiency. Keywords Competencies Á Content analysis Á Health psychology Á Marriage and family therapy Á Medical family therapy Á Medical social work Introduction Competency identification is an ongoing process where relevant skill sets are articulated, selected, and reviewed by educators, stakeholders, and other interested personnel (Hoge et al. 2005), typically within a specified profession. This process has typically involved an open invitation to discipline-specific experts in culminating and revising identified competencies within mental health professions (cf. France et al. 2008; National Association of Social Workers (NASW) 2005; Nelson et al. 2007). Medical family therapists (MedFTs), however, have just formally begun this process. Tyndall et al. (2012) published a list of 26 MedFT competencies in 2012 simultaneous to a set of 56 skills required for collaborative practice, published by Bischoff et al. (2012). Thus, the purpose of our article is twofold: (a) to review the processes of competency iden- tification in MedFT and related mental health fields/spe- cializations [i.e., Health Psychology (HP) and Medical Social Work (MDSW)], and (b) to present results from a content analysis that examined the published competencies in HP, MedFT, and MDSW in order to identify specific gaps in the existing MedFT competencies. Competency Identification Processes Competencies, or measurable human capabilities (Marrelli 1998), can be identified using the following strategies: defining the objectives, obtaining support, developing and implementing a plan, designing a methodology to observe competencies (e.g., focus groups, structured interviews, behavioral event interviews, surveys), identifying compe- tencies and creating the model, applying the model, and evaluating and revising the model (Marrelli et al. 2005). The following paragraphs offer a definition of MedFT and S. R. Michaels East Carolina University, Raleigh, NC, USA A. L. Lamson (&) Á S. L. McCammon Á P. Desai East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, USA e-mail: lamsona@ecu.edu M. B. White Northcentral University, Prescott Valley, AZ 86314, USA 123 Contemp Fam Ther (2014) 36:452–461 DOI 10.1007/s10591-014-9315-5