Jacqueline A. Sparks
Highest Degree:
Ph.D. in Family Therapy from Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, FL
Other Credentials:
Clinical Member, AAMFT; Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist; Approved Supervisor, AAMFT; Clinical Member, RIAMFT
Teaching interests:
Client-directed, outcome informed approaches to change; feedback processes and change in couple and family therapy; transforming systems of care to privilege client goals and preferences and promote social justice; common factors and therapeutic outcome; historical and political contexts of family therapy.
Scholarly and creative interests:
The impact of systematic client feedback on outcome for families and couples. Patterns of the alliance in couple and family therapy.
Outcome Rating Scale (ORS), Session Rating Scale (SRS), and Child Outcome Rating Scale (CORS) validation projects.
Incorporation of outcome management in clinical training and teaching curricula.
Co-founder of heroicagencies.org, an international network promoting client-directed, outcome-informed practice in therapeutic services.
Critical examination of medical approaches to the resolution of child and adolescent distress.
Family Violence Research (VOICES) - Grant, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Dissertation: Media Madness: The Social Construction of Mental Illness in Popular Culture.
Selected Publications (2000 to present):
Sparks, J. A., Muro, M. L. (in press). Client-directed wraparound: The client as connector in
community collaboration. Journal of Systemic Therapies.
Sparks, J. A., & Duncan, B. L. (in press). Common factors in couple and family therapy: Must all have prizes? In B. L. Duncan, S. D. Miller, B. E. Wampold, & M. A. Hubble (Eds.), Heart & Soul of Change, 2nd ed. Washington DC: American Psychological Association.
Sparks, J., Duncan, B. L., Cohen, D., & Antonuccio, D. (in press). Psychiatric drugs and common factors: An evaluation of risks and benefits for clinical practice. In B. L. Duncan, S. D. Miller, B. E. Wampold, & M. A. Hubble (Eds.), Heart & Soul of Change, 2nd ed. Washington DC: American Psychological Association.
Anker, M. G., Duncan, B. L., & Sparks, J. A. (2009). Using client feedback to improve couple therapy outcomes: A randomized clinical trial in a naturalistic setting. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 77(4), 693-704.
Sparks, J., A. & Duncan, B. L. (2008). Do no harm: A critical risk/benefit analysis of child psychotropic medications. Journal of Family Psychotherapy 19(1), 1-19.
Sparks, J. A., Duncan, B. L., & Miller, S. D. (2008). Common factors in psychotherapy. In J. Lebow (Ed.), 21st Century Psychotherapies (pp. 453-497). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Duncan, B., Sparks, J., Miller, S., Bohanske, R., & Claud, D. (2006). Giving youth a voice: A preliminary study of the reliability and validity of a brief outcome measure for children. Journal of Brief Therapy, 3(1), 3-12.
Duncan, B. & Sparks, J. (2007). Heroic clients, heroic agencies: Partners for change, Revised. www.talkingcure.com.
Duncan, B., Miller, S., & Sparks, J. (2004). The heroic client: A revolutionary way to improve effectiveness through client-directed, outcome-informed therapy. San Francisco: Jossey- Bass.
Duncan, B. L., Miller, S. D., & Sparks, J. A. (2003). Interactional and solution-focused brief therapies: Evolving concepts of relationship and change. In T. Sexton, G. Weeks, & M. Robbins (Eds.), Handbook of Family Therapy, 3rd ed., Brunner/Mazel: New York.
Sparks, J. A. (2002). Taking a stand: An adolescent girl’s resistance to medication. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 28 (1), 27-38.
Sparks, J. A. (2002). Taking a stand: Challenging medical discourse. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 28 (1), 51-59.
Sparks, J. A. (2000). The deconstruction of magic: Rereading, rethinking Erickson. Family Process, 39 (3), 307-318.
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