The Delphia Method in Marriage and Family Therapy (Concepts & Applications)

Lack of clear and concise definitions, concepts, and treatment protocols in the field of marriage and family therapy research has been criticized frequently. Given this, the field of marriage and family therapy would benefit from a helpful research meth-odology that could shed light on areas of conflict; very few studies based on this method have been carried out. This paper argues that application of Delphi studies would serve to address the issue. A description of Delphi methodology and its application in marriage and family therapy research literature are presented. Nineteen years of research (1988-2007) has been reviewed and based on the evidence, advantages, disadvan-tages, and some guidelines of Delphi method are discussed.