An Overview of the MFT Law and Ethics Exam
The Marriage and Family Therapy Law and Ethics Exam is a computer-based-administered test that all registered interns and Trainees must pass in order to obtain their license. The only exception to this is active duty members of the military and veterans who are also California residents, who are granted 90 days from completion of supervision to take the examination. The exam constitutes 50% of a candidate’s exam score, with the other 50% being the Supplemental Clinical subject exam.
This exam helps determine whether aspiring MFT’s have the necessary skills to maintain a high standard of conduct. While the main focus of this test is to evaluate competency in the area of professional ethics , the law & ethics features two additional topics: Supervisor Responsibilities and Professional & Workplace Violence. The very small portion of the test focused on Supervisor Responsibilities focuses on the basic responsibility of supervisors to assure that their supervisees are practicing therapy with the appropriate level of skill and competence. The slightly larger part of the test on Professional & Workplace Violence focuses on how professionals in this field should correctly handle things like sexual harassment, workplace violence, and domestic violence.
So, while the main focus of the test may be on law and ethics, it also addresses a few other topics which can be quite difficult to study for.
Subjects Covered
Aptly named, MFT Law and Ethics Exam focuses on essential knowledge regarding the California law & ethics relevant to marriage and family therapists (MFTs) and MFT trainees seeking licensure. The exam is broken into 90 questions, with 10 of them being considered pretest questions. While these pretest questions will not be counted toward your final score, they can cause confusion. For this reason, it is important to treat all 100 questions with the same level of seriousness.
Of the 90 questions, approximately 90% of the content follows the ethical standards of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT), California law/code and/or Board of Behavioral Sciences (BBS) regulations. This is the information that MFT Exam Prep offers sample questions on, through our study guide, workbooks, and practice exams.
The trick then is to know what subjects matter most – what kind of knowledge is emphasized most heavily on the exam? While you should not approach studying for this exam believing you can predict the subject matter or material of the test, no matter how much practice you put in, there are some key topics to be aware of.
Confidentiality and privilege – how to maintain client confidentiality, exceptions to confidentiality, and how privilege works, including the differences between therapy/clinical privilege, discovery, and subpoena
Dual relationships – when relationships can be considered dual, the potential harm and damage caused ones, and how to handle instances where potential dual relationships may be more damaging than completely avoiding the relationship
Ethical decision-making models – how to think through making a major ethical decision in a realistic manner, using a framework that ensures you do the right thing and stay within the law
Duty to report – what constitutes a "suspected" case, who to report that suspected case to, and how to handle situations in which a report must be filed but a client insists you do not report them
Financial issues – how to handle things not only as a calm professional but as a legal expert, including issues related to HIPAA/HITECH and insurance issues
Sexual harassment – what constitutes sexual harassment, how to handle such matters, and common misconceptions about sexual harassment
Subpoenas – as with privilege, how to handle being subpoenaed, how to notify your client, and what steps to take to ensure your client information is protected regardless of which way the case goes
Management of the treatment process – whether it’s defining the treatment process in advance in order to avoid lawsuits later on or dealing with patient non-compliance with treatment, without harming the client
Abuse and neglect – how to identify potential cases, what to do in case of revealing abuse/neglect in session, mandated reporting requirements, what information to include on reports to help protect the therapist as well as the client
Employment law – how to navigate such issues as firing, sexual harassment, hiring, and retention to ensure your rights, freedoms, and privileges are honored.
These are common issues – the key concepts and most likely scenarios – that will come up on the exam. By becoming very familiar with them, you will be better able to process the information given in the questions on the MFT Law and Ethics exam.
Study Strategies
Active learning is a strategy that promotes engagement with the material and deepens your understanding of the subject. This requires replacing passive study techniques such as reading and listening with studying techniques that encourage you to practice skills and then self-test. Use your textbook, bullet point lists, and outline any time you can. Highlighting may feel effective because it is one way to passively study. But, it’s not.
To know you have mastered something, you need to be able to apply it. By taking a practice exam, you will see what you know and where the gaps are. You will be able to go back and re-read and study areas that you previously misfired. Online courses will sometimes provide practice exams. For this reason it is important to sign up for an online course as early as possible so you can use the practice exams. But, if the exam is based on past MFT Law and Ethics exams you can often find them in the California Board of Behavioral Science website.
Finally, college will have introduced you to the idea of working in a group or study group. Online courses can help you synergize with your peers with group discussions on the platform. However, if you study with others keep in mind that the cost of a bad decision or the hassle of failing the exam can last well into the future based on court schedules. While studying together can help you stay engaged, ultimately you must know the material for yourself. Solidarity will not save you in a courtroom.
If you have a study buddy, be the one to call out questions and flip the flashcards. Get the other person to answer the question. This method of active learning means you are engaged with the process rather than passively listening. This study buddy should know they will also have to teach you something. You both review the answers together.
In the old days, I used to get a piece of paper with the exam VBMAN 7D, which I would write out as I studied. The world was not online. I could not even study for the exam on the Internet or join an online class. Now, platforms like OnlineCE provide interactive e-learning, webinars, and teachback quizzes to help you retain the information. In the past, we would study with cards or notes. We did not have ways to test ourselves immediately like online to know if we were right or wrong.
After spending years researching study habits and strategies, we are thrilled that the Association for Advanced Training in the Behavioral Sciences TEACHBACK® method has been added to StudySoup.com. With Teachback® it’s not about highlighting or studying in groups. Teachback® is one of the keys to passing the MFT clinical exam, and tests are shown to be 92% accurate for predicting performance on rehearsal tests.
We recommend online courses as a method to prepare for the MFT Law and Ethics exam simply because they are efficient and you can study on your timetable. The downside of online courses is that you miss out on the social aspects of being in a live course. The social aspects are why people often perform better in live classes. If you have someone to test you and worksheets that guide you through the material, the social aspects can be handled by study buddies outside of class.
The exam has multiple areas that the Board of Behavioral Sciences tests. As a result, the time that you will spend on each area may differ. You may also have an enormous amount of time in the exam for certain sections, but not others.
The major areas of the MFT exam include Psychotherapy, Assessment, and Clinical Respresentations. You will study and take quizzes in all these areas and essentially go over all the materials for the entire exam. You will not be able to cover all of the material unless you are very organized and stay disciplined.
Practice Test Use
Taking practice exams will also help you become familiar with the computer format. You may take as many practice exams as you wish through the California Board of Behavioral Sciences website. Grading your exam: All of the MFT Law and Ethics Questions are presented in multiple-choice format. You are given four answer choices per question. The exam is composed of 75 law questions and 45 ethics questions in addition to 15 pre-test questions. The purpose of the pre-test law and ethics questions is to help ensure that future TExES and CPEx exams are valid and fair assessments of what candidates need to know to succeed. Because the pre-test questions are being piloted, they will not be scored and will not affect your performance on the exam. All MFT Law and Ethics Exams administered in California are computer-scored. Each correct answer is worth one point. The 120 scored questions currently represent the following categories and weight of the test. When a passing scaled score of 107 is achieved, the exam is graded on a pass/fail basis. Scaled scoring is used to ensure consistent pass rates.
Test Anxiety Tips
Reducing exam anxiety is a crucial factor in successfully passing the MFT Law and Ethics exam. In addition to study strategy and content knowledge, you must also consider how your emotional approach to the exam influences your performance on the test. While some test anxiety is inevitable, it is important to manage the degree of anxiety so that it doesn’t interfere with your ability to perform at your best.
Research in the field of psychometrics indicates that, while test anxiety can affect test performance, some types of test anxiety can actually help you do better on an exam. Test anxiety can motivate you to study more or better, and it can serve as a subconscious signal that is interpreted as a physical response to a threat. This threat, of course, is the exam itself. Your subconscious is always competing between thoughts of your immediate needs and long-term well being, and the result is that fear of bodily harm takes precedence over worry about future GPA or test performance.
It is important to avoid fighting your test anxiety because in doing so, you increase its negative potential. Instead, you must deal with your anxiety in an effort to reduce its influence over your test performance. This is especially true with the MFT Law and Ethics test, as it is inherently dense with factual information and predicates. The test is not meant to be another area to add onto the negative mental load that so many post-grads carry. For this reason, effective coping techniques are essential.
Mindfulness-based techniques have become one of the most effective tools for reducing test anxiety. Mindfulness techniques involve simply being aware of the moment and accepting it without judgment. You do not try to change or control the present, but you also do not dwell on any troubling thoughts. Simply enjoy the presence of your breath as it is. While our instincts may tell us to fight feelings of anxiety , doing so makes those feelings even harder to handle. Instead, you should slow down, breathe, and simply be aware of your own presence.
In addition to mindfulness techniques, you can also use concrete methods to increase your confidence and exam performance. Test-anxiety management involves two components – you must also ensure that you have organized your study plan appropriately. Breaking up your preparation into smaller parts is a great way to both retain information better and make sure you don’t get overwhelmed.
Attempt to set mini-goals for yourself daily and divide content into small sections. Plan to be able to cover a portion of material each day so that you have time to adjust your study plan if you find that something takes longer than expected. Maintaining a consistent habit of working on the material each day will help reinforce the material as your brain externalizes the effort to memorize the rules.
You should never rely solely on "cramming" or trying to study for a few hours the night before the test. This is a recipe for adding extra panic that only increases your test anxiety and makes it difficult to think through the factors of a situation. While it can help to do a final review of key terms the night before, you should never expect to learn new information the day of the test. Instead, you should spend some time calming yourself before the test. Mindfully breathe through the anxiety, and simply enjoy your awareness of the present. Then, remind yourself that you simply want to do your best and learn what you can from the process. The goal is certainly not to pass with a perfect score. Instead, the ultimate goal is to learn the material so that you understand it when you work with real-life MFT scenarios. With the right preparation, your MFT Law and Ethics experience will seem far more enjoyable than stressful.
Resources and Study Tools
Books:
California Law and Ethics Therapy Exam (Myers Psych Prep Books) by Marc J. Sheron, EdD, Lisa A. Good, PsyD, Robert A. Sherman, PhD
California Psychology Law and Ethics (Cram101 Textbook Reviews) by Cram101 Textbook Reviews
California Law, Ethics & Audiology Test Review for the California Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology License Examination by M. Katharine Dudding, M.A., CCC-A/SLP, CCC-A
Online:
These three websites furnish a multitude of resources for each stage of the MFT Law and Ethics Exam prep, all of which are recommended:
www.in Session, www.examedge, www.sixthreads.com
Courses:
A one-week course offered on MFT Law and Ethics Exam in Los Angeles, California
For further details visit: www.insession.information.com
Legal and Ethical Issues
For MFTs, understanding case studies and real-world scenarios is an indispensable piece of understanding the legal and ethical waters you need to navigate as a mental health professional. Familiarize yourself with how common MFT scenarios affect the industry by carefully studying the examples below to understand the influence of insurance company practices on confidentiality, the potential liability associated with refusing to answer client questions, and the temptation to get too personal with clients.
The Threat of Lawsuits from Clients’ Insurance Companies
A marital therapist was sued for malpractice by an insurance company under an assignment of rights when a woman, her husband and her therapist filed a class action lawsuit against the insurance company for breach of contract in a base toward ten hurtful practices.
Refusing to Answer Client Questions
An MFT was appointed to treat a child by a juvenile court; the minor’s mother had been found in contempt for disobeying a 1990 court order to allow the father visitation with the child. The child’s mother and guardian (her aunt) were unhappy with the therapist’s decision that it was in the best interest of the child that the mother be denied further visitation . Fearing that the child would be removed from her home by her aunt, the child requested to speak to the therapist outside her aunt’s presence. The therapist agreed, but refused to answer the child’s questions as to why she could not see her mother; later, the aunt settled with the mother.
A Little Too Personal?
A therapist conducted an annual seminar on sexual attraction in therapy, which was attended by an older woman who submitted a written evaluation of the program. Two years past and, after sending two Christmas cards to the therapist, the participant sent an email, asking to meet. The therapist agreed to meet with the participant as long as they met at school. During the initial meeting in another grad school, the therapist asked the participant to get individual therapy; but when she refused, the therapist still saw the participant regularly. While decrease contact was made in order to allow the therapist to terminate the relationship, the therapist continued to see the participant at various events. Eventually, the therapist tested positive for HIV and resigned from the area, in hot water with his school and licensure board.