Cultural Adaptations of Emotionally Focused Therapy

Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) is an evidence-based approach to working with couple distress. Similar to much of the research about the efficacy and effectiveness of couple therapy approaches, EFT research samples consist of white, heterosexual couples or research studies do not report further identifying information. In this paper, we report on 23 interviews of minimally trained EFT therapists to explore more in-depth experiences with cultural adaptations. Following a thematic analysis of the interviews, we identified five themes that include: therapist factors that contribute to work with diverse populations; model factors that provide a mechanism to engage across cultures; specific strategies therapists have used; training experiences; and challenges that research participants reported.