| African-American | American Indian | Hawaiian
| Hispanic | 10-14 Year Olds
The Hispanic Strengthening Families Program
Maria lives in a housing project
in Denver where the Strengthening Families Program is being
run in Spanish. She loves the program because it is just
in the next building, dinner is provided, and the kids enjoy
all the activities. The trainers tell her that she still
needs to be the parent in make the decisions, rather than
her children trying to run the family. 
The Denver Area Youth Services (DAYS) modified
the Strengthening Families Program for Hispanic 5-12 year
old children and families in several inner-city housing
projects. The program was operated in a housing unit in
the HUD housing project. This made it very easy for parents
and kids to attend. The families only had to walk next door.
DAYS created a children's recreational center there as well,
so that children and parents were comfortable in being in
the center. Operating in the same place for five years increased
community trust and support. Child care and culturally-appropriate
meals were provided.
This five year CSAP high-risk youth grant
resulted in a new 14 -session Spanish-language version of
the Parenting Manuals. Recently, another group in Arizona's
border towns, completed the Spanish language translation
of the Children's Social Skills Training Manuals and the
Family Skills Training Manuals. While the Hispanic SFP follows
the same format and session content, the trainers and the
families suggested cultural adaptations in examples, language,
and cultural traditions to add to the program. This Strengthening
Hispanic Families Program can be seen on a video tape, Coming
Together on Prevention, available from the National Center
for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Information (NCADI) at www.health.org.
Recruitment and Retention Results. One
of the major successes of this program was the high program
completion rate of 92% based on the criteria of participant's
attending at least 70% of all sessions and participating
in the graduation ceremony to receive a certificate of completion
(Kumpfer, Wamberg, & Martinez, 1996). Because the trainers
were very respectful of the needs of the families and their
cultural traditions, it was successful in attracting and
maintaining high-risk families in SFP. By the fifth year,
100% of the recruited families were completing the program.
Of course, the graduations were a major reason to complete
and graduate. The lead site coordinator, Donna Martinez,
could take a very small budget of $200 and turn the graduation
into a major party. How? She spent the first $100 renting
a hotel ballroom from a friend. The police department donated
Christmas gifts for graduation in December and the "Christmas
in June" graduation in the spring. Two police officers
dressed as Santa Claus handed out gift baskets to the graduating
families. Graduation gowns were donated to make the graduation
more formal. Several local dignitaries were invited as speakers.
Graduation certificates were mounted on wood plaques by
a substance abuse men's recovery group. Pictures and videos
were made of the graduation and copies were given to all
families. The rest of money was spend on food and decorations
made by the families. Music for dancing was provided by
either volunteer friends or a portable CD player. To increase
recruitment, families who were potential recruits were invited
to attend the graduation party. This technique increased
enrollment and participation when new families heard testimonials
of the major improvements made by the families in their
relationships and children's performance at home and school.
Outcome Results. The outcome results of
this program were not as strong as prior programs, possibly
because the children were lower risk than the children of
substance abusers targeted in the prior studies. Also, under
reporting of problems is typical for Hispanic and Asian
immigrant families at the pre-test, because of lack of trust
in confidentiality of their data. The data showed, however,
a major increase in exposure to tobacco, alcohol, and other
drugs occurs in these Hispanic children between age 8 and
9 years.
As in the Utah studies, many of the children
(33%) report being sad or depressed, with 28% saying they
had thoughts of hurting themselves or committing suicide.
As many as 20% of these elementary school children were
having difficulties with school adjustment and 44% had been
involved in fist fights.
References
Kumpfer, K.L., Wamberg, K., & Martinez, D. (1996, October).
Strengthening Families Program. Workshop at 2nd National
Training Conference in Strengthening America's Families.
Snowbird, UT.
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