Name of Model
Strengthening Families Program
Introduction
The Strengthening Families Program (SFP) is an evidence-based family skills training prevention intervention that parents and their children attend together. Developed in 1982, it was the first selective prevention program for high-risk children of substance abusing caregivers. SFP typically begins with a family-style meal, and then for the first hour, parents, teens, and children attend their separate skills training classes. Families rejoin for the second hour, and practice skills together that they learned in class. Studies show that when the whole family attends family skills training classes for 7–14 weeks, it improves family relations long-term.
Comparative effectiveness reviews such as the Cochrane Reviews at Oxford University found SFP is twice as effective as other prevention interventions for school-age youth. SFP also reduced child maltreatment and days in foster care by half (Brook et al. 2012). One cultural...
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Kumpfer, K.L., Xie, J., Magalhães, C., Brown, J. (2019). Strengthening Families Enrichment Program. In: Lebow, J.L., Chambers, A.L., Breunlin, D.C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49425-8_374
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