Dr. Davis earned his BA in Family Studies and MS in Marriage and Family Therapy at Brigham Young University. He earned his PhD in Marriage and Family Therapy at Virginia Tech and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Kentucky. Dr. Davis' work focuses on common factors of effective marriage and family therapy treatments. He is widely published in this area, most notably having co-authored the first book on this subject and two articles for which he and his co-authors received the 2014 and 2015 article of the year award in the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, his field's top journal. Dr. Davis is also the co-author (with Dr. Michael Nichols) of Family Therapy: Concepts and Methods, one of the field's most widely used theory textbooks. In addition to his work on common factors, Dr. Davis enjoys international education opportunities, having taken students to Mexico and Italy.
Common factors across effective MFT models; bridging the scientist/practitioner gap in MFT; International MFT education
Editorial Council, Journal of Marital and Family Therapy. A small group of scholars in charge of helping the editor chart the direction of the journal.
PhD, Virginia Tech, 2005
Honors
2010
Reviewer of the Year, Journal of Marital and Family Therapy
2008
Author or co-author of three of the five most cited articles of all articles published in the top-ranked Journal of Marital and Family Therapy during 2005-2008.
2007
More publications during 2007 in the top-ranked Journal of Marital and Family Therapy than any other researcher in the world.
2006
AAMFT Dissertation Award, a nationally competitive award for an outstanding completed dissertation. The first person in the history of AAMFT to win both the Dissertation and Graduate Student Research Awards. 9
2006
Davis, S. D. (2006). 2006 AAMFT Thesis/Dissertation Award (awarded $750 to assist AAMFT conference travel costs).
2005
AAMFT Graduate Student Research Award, a nationally competitive award for innovative dissertation research.
2005
Davis, S. D. (2005). 2005 AAMFT Graduate Student Research Award (awarded $2250 to offset dissertation research costs).
Wilson, K. L., Glebova, T., Davis, S. D., & Seshadri, G. (2017). Adolescent mothers in foster care: Relational ethics, depressive symptoms and health problems through a contextual therapy lens. Contemporary Family Therapy, 39, 150-161. Doi: 10.1007/s10591-017-9417-y
Karam, E., Davis, S. D., & Sprenkle, D. H. (2015). Targeting Threats to the Therapeutic Alliance: A Primer for MFT Training. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 41, 389-400. Doi: 10.1111/jmft.12097.
Karam, E., Blow, A., Sprenkle, D. H. , & Davis, S. D. (2015). Strengthening the Systemic Ties that Bind: Integrating Common Factors into MFT Curricula. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 41, 136-149. Doi: 10.1111/jmft.12096.
Dattilio, F. M., Piercy, F. P., & Davis, S. D. (2014). The divide between "evidence-based" approaches and practitioners of traditional theories of family therapy. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 40, 5-16. Doi: 10.111/jmft.12032.
Fife, S. T., Whiting, J. B., Bradford, K., & Davis, S. D. (2014). The therapeutic pyramid: A common factors synthesis of techniques, alliance, and way of being. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 40, 20-33. Doi: 10.1111/jmft.12041.
Woolley, S. R., Wampler, K. S., & Davis, S. D. (2012). Enactments in couple therapy: Identify-ing therapist interventions associated with positive change. Journal of Family Therapy, 34, 284-305.
Davis, S. D., Lebow, J., & Sprenkle, D. H. (2012). Common factors of change in couple therapy. Behavior Therapy, 43, 36-48.
Blow, A. J., Davis, S. D., & Sprenkle, D. H. (2012). Therapist-worldview matching: Not as important as matching to clients. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 38, 13-17.
Datillio, F. M., Jongsma, A. E., & Davis, S. D. (2010). The family therapy treatment planner. (2nd ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Butler, M. H., Davis, S. D., & Seedal, R. (2008). Common pitfalls of beginning therapists utilizing enactments. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 34, 269-286.
Davis, S. D. & Piercy, F. P. (2007). What clients of MFT model developers and their former students say about change, Part I: Model dependent common factors across three models. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 33, 318-343.
Davis, S. D. & Piercy, F. P. (2007). What clients of MFT model developers and their former students say about change, Part II: Model independent common factors and an integrative framework. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 33, 344-363.
Blow, A. J., Sprenkle, D. S., & Davis, S. D. (2007). Is who delivers the treatment more important than the treatment itself?: The role of the therapist in common factors. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 33, 298-317.
Huebner, A. J., Shettler, L., Matheson, J. L., Meszaros, P. S., Piercy, F. P., & Davis, S. D. (2005). Examining ethnic differences in predictors of female adolescent smoking in rural Virginia. Journal of Child and Adolescent Substance Abuse, 15, 27-61.
Davis, S. D., Piercy, F. P., Meszaros, P. S., Huebner, A. J., Shetler, L., & Matheson, J. L. (2004). Female adolescent smoking: A Delphi study on best prevention practices. Journal of Drug Education, 34, 295-311.
Davis, S. D., & Butler, M. H. (2004). Enacting relationships in Marriage and Family Therapy: A conceptual and operational definition of an enactment. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 30, 319-334.
Huebner, A. J., Shettler, L., Matheson, J. L., Meszaros, P. S., Piercy, F. P., & Davis, S. D. (2004). Factors associated with former smokers among female adolescents in rural Virginia. Addictive Behaviors, 30, 167-173.
Grady, J., Banford Witting, A., Kim, A., & Davis, S. (in press). Differences in Unit Cohesion and Combat-Related Mental Health Problems Based on Attachment Styles in US Military Veterans. Contemporary Family Therapy.
Laszloffy, T. A., & Davis, S. D. (2018). Nurturing nature: Exploring ecological self-of-the-therapist issues. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy.
Nichols, M. P., & Davis, S. D. (in press). Essentials of family therapy (7th ed.). Columbus, OH: Pearson.
Lebow, J., Chambers, A., & Breunlin, D. C (Eds) (2018). Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy, New York: Springer. (Associate editor for this project, in charge of editing approximately 75 chapters)
Nichols, M. P., & Davis, S. D. (2016). Family therapy: Concepts and methods (11th ed.). Columbus, OH: Pearson.
Bean, R. A., Davis, S. D., & Davey, M. P. (Eds.) (2014). Clinical Supervision Activities for In-creasing Competence and Self-Awareness, New York: Wiley-Blackwell.
Sprenkle, D. H., Davis, S. D., & Lebow, J. (2009) Common factors in couple and family therapy: The overlooked foundation for effective practice. New York: Guilford Press.
Lou-Barton, G. & Davis, S. D. (2018). Systems theory. In Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy. New York: Springer.
Davis, S. D. (2017). Piercy, Fred. In Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy. New York: Springer. Doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-15877-8_790-1
Davis, S. D. (2017). Common factors in couple and family therapy. In Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy. New York: Springer. Doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-15877-8_515-1
Davis, S. D. & Espinoza, S. A. (2016). Enactments. In Weeks, G., Fife, S., & Peterson, C. (Eds.) Techniques for the Couples Therapist: Essential Interventions. New York: Routledge.
Davis, S. D. (2016). Enactments in five developmental stages. In Weeks, G., Fife, S., & Peterson, C. (Eds.) Techniques for the Couples Therapist: Essential Interventions. New York: Routledge.
Davis, S. D., Dattilio, F. M., & Gonzalez, A. (2014). Family Therapy. In Cautin, R., & Lilienfeld, S. (Eds), Encyclopedia of Clinical Psychology, New York: Wiley-Blackwell.
Davis, S. D., & Gonzalez, A. (2014). A new experience with the family of origin. In Bean, R. A., Davis, S. D., & Davey, M. P. (Eds), Clinical Supervision Activities for Increasing Competence and Self-Awareness, New York: Wiley-Blackwell.
Piercy, F. P., Soekandar, A., Limansubroto, C., & Davis, S. D. (2005). Family therapy with Indonesians. In M. McGoldrick, J. Pearce, & J. Giordano (Eds.), Ethnicity and family therapy (3rd ed. pp. 332-338). New York: Guilford.
Benningfield, A. B. & Davis, S. D. (2005). Family business consultation: Opportunities for MFTs. In S. M Harris, D. C. Ivey, & R. A. Bean (Eds.), A practice that works: Strategies to supplement your stand alone therapy practice (pp. 211-223). New York: Taylor & Francis.
Davis, S. D., Gonzalez, V. & Sahabzadi, S. (2018). Therapeutic alliance in couple and family therapy. In Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy. New York: Springer.
Davis, S. D. (2018). Sprenkle, Douglas. In Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy. New York: Springer.