Counseling and Family Sciences - PhD in family studies
- Introduction
- Program philosophy and goals
- Program requirements
- Program administrative faculty
- Course descriptions - See the University Catalog.
- Contact us (web form)
Loma Linda University, a health sciences institution, is located approximately 60 miles east of downtown Los Angeles and just south of San Bernardino, California. More than 3,200 students are enrolled in the University's schools, which include Allied Health Professions, Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Public Health, and Science and Technology.
The Department of Counseling and Family Sciences functions under the auspices of the School of Science and Technology at Loma Linda University. This department offers master of arts and master of science in family studies and marital and family therapy degrees, respectively. Also, it offers a doctor of marital and family therapy (DMFT) and PhDs in family studies and marital and family therapy and several certificate programs. Administrative offices for these programs are located on the second floor of Griggs Hall on the main campus of Loma Linda University.
Trained faculty members provide high quality education for students in the program. Faculty training includes family studies, family sociology, marriage and family therapy, and educational psychology. In addition, Loma Linda University's location provides easy access to mountains, beaches, and desert climates for numerous recreational opportunities.
Goals of family studies program
The PhD degree in family studies at Loma Linda University represents the highest level of academic training for family scientists and provides a system approach to observing, understanding, and analyzing close relationships and families using the tools of family science. It is a non clinical degree and is based on a scientist/professional model. Its goal is to prepare academicians, researchers, service administrators, and providers in family services agencies.
The PhD program will equip students with three major skills. These skills include: 1. The acquisition, impartation, and integration of substantive and theoretical areas of human and family development; 2. The use of statistics and research methodologies to conduct empirical research on individuals and families and close relationships; and 3. The use of strategies to build individual and family competence informed by family science scholarship; 4. Mastery of assessment and evaluation skills to measure treatment and program outcomes and effectiveness.
Program requirements
The PhD degree program in family studies consists of 98 units of course work beyond a master's degree. Students who matriculate from a master's degree in family studies/family therapy or a related field are expected to complete the PhD between three and four years. Students that do not have a solid grounding in family science will be offered a number of prerequisite courses necessary for building a foundation for later advanced courses.
Curriculum course requirements
The following are the major areas of study and required and elective courses for each, totaling 98 quarter units.
FMST 515 Professional Issues in Family Life Education (3)
FMST 518 Advanced Theories of Child Development (3)
FMST 524 Family Resource Management (3)
FMST 526 Marriage and the Family (3)
FMST 528 Parenting (2)
FMST 529 Family Life education (2)
FMST 618 Family Studies Internship (9)
MFTH 505 Advanced Family Studies (4)
MFTH 519 Teaching Techniques (2)
MFTH 601 Statistics I (4)
MFTH 602 Statistics II (4)
MFTH 603 Statistics III (4)
MFTH 604 Advanced Qualitative Methods (4)
MFTH 605 Advanced Quantitative Methods (4)
MFTH 606 Research in MFT (4)
MFTH 608 Issues in Research Design and Presentation (3)
MFTH 694 Doctoral Seminar (1 over 6 quarters)
MFTH 697 Research (17)
MFTH 698 Dissertation (3)
RELE (500 or 600 level) Clinical Ethics (3)
RELT 615 Philosophy of Religion (3)
RELR 535 Spirituality and Mental Health (3)
Electives (500 or 600 level) (17)
Program administration
Curtis Fox, PhD - cfox@llu.edu
Coordinator of PhD in family studies program
Patty Hoerner - pchoerner@llu.edu
Administrative assistant for doctoral programs
Course descriptions - See the University Catalog.