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Implementing Family-Centered Interventions Within the Public Middle School: Linking Service Delivery to Change in Student Problem Behavior

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Abstract

The Adolescent Transitions Program is a family-centered intervention strategy designed to reduce problem behavior and prevent drug use within a public school environment. A parent consultant within a Family Resource Center (FRC) provided universal, selected, and indicated interventions that enhanced and supported positive parenting practices known to serve as protective factors. Implementation of the 3-year FRC model involved 584 students and their families in 4 middle schools. Analyses focused on the dynamics and effects of parent consultant activities and services. Differences in school “adoption” of the FRC services were found to be a function of both passage of time and school environment. Despite significant variation in implementation across schools, FRC services significantly reduced the growth in problem behavior over the course of the middle-school years. The implications of these findings for dissemination of empirically supported, school-based, family-centered interventions are discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Child and Family Center, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon

    Elizabeth A. Stormshak PhD, Thomas J. Dishion, John Light & Miwa Yasui

  2. Counseling Psychology, Child and Family Center, University of Oregon, 195 West 12th Avenue, Eugene, Oregon, 97401

    Elizabeth A. Stormshak PhD

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  1. Elizabeth A. Stormshak PhD
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  2. Thomas J. Dishion
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  3. John Light
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  4. Miwa Yasui
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Correspondence to Elizabeth A. Stormshak PhD.

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Stormshak, E.A., Dishion, T.J., Light, J. et al. Implementing Family-Centered Interventions Within the Public Middle School: Linking Service Delivery to Change in Student Problem Behavior. J Abnorm Child Psychol 33, 723–733 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-005-7650-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-005-7650-6

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