...functional family therapy (fft) is a structured family-based intervention that uses a multi-step approach to enhance protective factors and reduce risk factors in the family. the five major components of fft include engagement, motivation, relational assessment, behavior change, and generalization. in the included studies, fft typically involved 12 to 14 therapist visits over a three- to seven-month period. studies in this meta-analysis compare fft to treatment as usual, which is often post-confinement supervision with referrals to community-based services. in the studies in our analysis that reported demographic information, 35% of participants were youth of color. this analysis includes studies where fft is provided to youth in the community following their release from confinement. evaluations of fft where youth receive the program following arrest or adjudication (and are not confined) and fft for youth convicted of a sex offense are excluded from this analysis and analyzed separately. ...

...functional family therapy (fft) is a structured family-based intervention that uses a multi-step approach to enhance protective factors and reduce risk factors in the family. the five major components of fft include engagement, motivation, relational assessment, behavior change, and generalization. fft typically involves 12 to 14 therapist visits over a three- to five-month period. studies included in the analysis report that youth have moderate or high risk for recidivism, per a validated risk assessment tool. in the studies in our analysis that reported demographic information, 55% of fft participants were youth of color and 26% were female. studies in this analysis compare fft to treatment as usual, which was typically probation with referrals to community-based services. this analysis includes studies where fft is provided to youth in the community following either arrest or adjudication. evaluations of fft where youth receive the program upon their release from confinement and fft for youth convicted of a sex offense are excluded from this analysis and analyzed separately....

...this analysis compares functional family therapy (fft) to treatment as usual for youth released from juvenile rehabilitation facilities who have committed sexual offenses. fft is a structured family-based intervention that uses a multi-step approach to enhance protective factors and reduce risk factors in the family. the five major components of fft include 1) engagement, 2) motivation, 3) identifying patterns of interaction within the family, 4) behavior change, and 5) generalizing positive interactions to new situations. fft sessions are conducted primarily in the home of the participant’s family. fft was not modified or adapted to address the specific needs of youth who have committed sexual offenses. all participants were youth convicted of sex offenses being released from juvenile rehabilitation facilities after serving their sentence. fft participants received 12-16 therapy sessions over 11 months, on average. youth in the comparison group received treatment as usual for juvenile sex offenders (tau-jso), which consisted of weekly or bi-weekly individual and/or group therapy sessions over 22 months. in the included study, 28% of participants were youth of color and 3% were female. youth were classified as low or moderate risk per scores on a validated recidivism risk instrument. evaluations of fft for court-involved and post-release youth convicted of non-sexual offenses are excluded from this analysis and analyzed separately....

...functional family therapy—child welfare (fft-cw) is a modification of fft that has been used with youth involved in the criminal justice system. fft-cw has two tracks, one for lower-risk families (fft-lr) and another for higher-risk families (fft-hr). the fft-lr program is implemented in three distinct phases: engagement/motivation, support/monitor, and generalization. the fft-hr model, based on the original fft, is more intensive and includes five phases. in the single study included here families received one or the other track, but it is unclear what percentage of the treatment group was assigned to either track. in the study, those in the comparison group received various other services....

...functional family therapy (fft) is a structured family-based intervention that uses a multi-step approach to enhance protective factors and reduce risk factors in the family. functional family therapy is a blueprint program identified by the university of colorado’s center for the study and prevention of violence. ...

...family-based therapies target court-involved youth and their families and aim to prevent further justice system involvement. this broad category includes programs with a wide range of theoretical foundations and therapeutic techniques, using similar techniques found in programs like functional family therapy and multisystemic therapy. the goals are typically to restore family hierarchy, encourage parents to take greater responsibility in family functioning, enhance parenting skills, improve communication and problem-solving, and connect families to other community-based services. most interventions consisted of therapy within the family unit but some also include separate therapy for the youth and their parents. on average, family-based therapy programs included in this analysis lasted 2.5 months. studies in the analysis compared family-based programs to either no programming or probation-as-usual. in the studies in our analysis that reported demographic information, 45% of participants were youth of color and 44% were female. we exclude evaluations of multisystemic therapy, functional family therapy, diversion programs, or programs administered to juvenile populations with either substance use disorder or problem sexual behavior and analyze those programs separately....

...functional family probation and parole (ffp) is a case management program modeled after functional family therapy (fft). ffp was designed to supervise youth in the community on probation or parole. like fft, ffp is a structured, family-based intervention that uses a multi-step approach to enhance protective factors (e.g., school attendance) and reduce risk factors (e.g., antisocial attitudes) in the family. the five phases of this program include 1) engagement, 2) motivation, 3) identifying patterns of interaction within the family, 4) behavior change, and 5) generalizing positive interactions to new situations. each phase helps to support incremental change for the youth and family. ffp typically involves 12 to 14 therapist visits over a three- to five-month period. therapists are trained by fft llc. in this analysis, ffp was delivered to youth on parole after being released from confinement and one study examined youth on probation. youth participated in ffp for an average of six months. comparison youth received either no treatment or treatment and probation as usual. although risk level was not reported in these studies, youth had some degree of prior involvement with the justice system. among included studies that reported demographics, 63% of participants were youth of color and 10% were female. ...

...multidimensional family therapy (mdft) is an integrative, family-based, multiple systems treatment for youth with drug abuse and related behavior problems. the therapy consists of four domains: (1) engage adolescent in treatment, (2) increase parental involvement with youth and improve limit-setting, (3) decrease family-interaction conflict, and (4) collaborate with extra-familial social systems. youth are generally aged 11 to 16 and have been clinically referred to outpatient treatment. for this meta-analysis, two studies measured the effects of mdft on delinquency and ten measured the effects on subsequent substance use. all 12 studies included youth who were referred from the juvenile justice system as well as schools, child welfare agencies, health and mental health agencies, and parents....

...family behavior therapy is a standalone behavioral treatment based on the community reinforcement approach aimed at reducing substance use. participants attend sessions with at least one family member, typically a parent or cohabitating partner. the treatment consists of several parts including behavioral contracting, skills to reduce interaction with individuals and situations related to drug use, impulse and urge control, communication skills, and vocational or educational training. treatment in the included studies occurred over a 6- to 12-month period. our findings reflect only adults treated in the program and exclude results for adolescents....

...brief strategic family therapy (bsft) is both a prevention and treatment intervention model that addresses cognitive, behavioral, and affective aspects of families for children with disruptive behavior problems. bsft targets youth aged 8-17 years who display or are at-risk for behavioral problems, including delinquency and substance use. youth are eligible for bsft if they self-report substance use or are referred from an institution for substance use outpatient treatment. bsft utilizes individual family therapy to teach tools to address specific risk factors and improve family-based interactions. youth are commonly referred to bsft through a school or parent recommendation. bsft consists of 12-17 weekly sessions, each lasting for an hour- to ninety-minutes; each session is overseen by a trained bsft therapist. ...