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NEWS
SFP’s Developer, Dr. Karol Kumpfer, and Dr.
Kerby Alvy at the White House Office of National Drug
Control Promoting Effective Parenting
Dr. Kumpfer presented last January to the
White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP)
as part of the Advisory Board of Dr. Kerby Alvy’s
National Effective Parenting Initiative (NEPI) on the
importance of targeting parents in media campaigns.
MORE>>
SFP Developer Advising United Nations Office of Drugs
and Crime in Vienna on Dissemination of Evidence-based
Family Programs MORE>>
LutraGroup Collaboration with Taskin University and
Thai National Control Board for Dissemination of SFP in
Thailand MORE>>
New Articles
Strengthening Families
Program's Dissemination Worldwide
SFP selected for Dissemination
in UK by University of London’s new Parenting Academy
Ireland Really Committed
to SFP 12-16 for Youth Corrections and Substance Abuse
Cochrane Reviews Find SFP10-14 the #1 Best School-based
Alcohol Abuse Prevention Program
The first International Cochrane Collaboration
Systematic Review in Public Health and Medicine to review
programs for the prevention of alcohol abuse found that
SFP10-14 was the most effective universal, school-based
prevention program in the world.
The Cochrane Collaboration authors (Foxcroft
and associates 2003) at Oxford University found only 56
programs in the world with research data solid enough to
include in their review of what works in substance abuse
prevention. About 20 of these programs were found to have
negative results or no positive results. Of the remaining
programs, the Cochrane review found that SFP10-14, a 7-session
plus four boosters version for low risk universal populations,
had twice the effectiveness (effect size)
of the next best school-based program. SFP was found three
times as effective as any life or social skills
training program implemented with youth only.
Because this review covered only school-based
universal prevention, SFP3-5, SFP6-11, and SFP12-16 await
a future Cochrane Collaboration evaluation for effectiveness
with higher risk selected or indicated populations.
Foxcroft, D. R., Ireland, D., Lister-Sharp,
D.J., Low, G., & Breen, R. (2003) Longer-term primary
prevention for alcohol misuse in young people: A systemic
review. Addiction, 98, 3978-411.
SFP12-16 Now Available
The original Strengthening Families Program
(SFP 6-11) was created in 1984 for high-risk “selected
or “indicated” children ages 6 to 11 and their
families. Growing requests led in 2004 to SFP12-16, an adaptation
of SFP for high-risk teens. Resilience lessons on dreams
and goals from SFP10-14 for general/universal populations
were retained and adapted for higher risk youth. This program
was tested on a SAMHSA/CSAT grant with youth in foster care
and residential drug treatment in multiple sites in New
Mexico and Utah. The Trimbos Institute also tested SFP12-16
for youth in residential drug treatment in multiple sites
in the Netherlands and found positive outcomes similar to
SFP6 –11. A recent analysis of results in Ireland
showed even larger effectiveness (effect sizes averaging
d = .80) in their population of indicated youth involved
in probation or mental health services. Implementations
in Canada, Italy, and Thailand are expected to produce publishable
results.
Core skills of SFP12-16 for parents and
teens are essentially the same as in SFP6-11, but presentation,
exercises, and language have been adapted for early teens.
A lesson preparing parents and teens to talk about relationships
and sexuality has also been added. Because teens have a
more nearly adult understanding, parents and teens usually
work on the same or similar skills in each session (compared
to roughly half the sessions in SFP3-5 and SFP6-11).
SFP12-16 returns frequently to the theme
of helping teens identify their goals and dreams and helping
parents support pursuing those goals. Peer resistance skills
also receive expanded treatment in SFP12-16. Peer resistance
is presented as encouraging teens to make their own choices,
determining what they will do and who they will be.
SFP3-5 Successful in Early Implementations
In trials on the east and west coasts,
an adaptation of SFP 6-11 for high risk families with pre-school
children ages 3 to 5 years released in 2006 has produced
successful initial results. Core skills of SFP 3-5 for parents
and younger children are essentially the same as in SFP6-11,
but presentation, exercises, and language have been adapted
for the understanding and attention spans of younger ages.
Lessons in SFP3-5 completely parallel SFP6-11
and both versions are easily presented together to accommodate
families with children in both age groups. Parallel presentation
of both versions requires only more group leaders for the
additional children’s group and dividing the Family
Session into a shorter first period for the younger children
and a longer second period for older children.
SFP Developer to Advise UN for Prevention Expert Meeting
in Vienna and Draft Review of Cultural Adaptation and Implementation
Protocol for Family Programs
Dr. Karol L. Kumpfer, developer of SFP,
was recently retained as a consultant for an October 2007
United Nations expert meeting in Vienna, Austria on family-based
approaches to prevention. The conference reflects the widening
acceptance of family-based approaches at the most effective
prevention strategies worldwide. Overseas SFP trainings
and implementation in recent years include Sweden, England,
the Netherlands, Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Russia, Thailand,
Spain, Costa Rica, and El Salvador. Translation and adaptations
of language, exercises and graphics and supporting materials
are typically involved in creating a national adaptation
of an SFP program.
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