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The stages of change proposed by Prochaska and DiClemente have been applied to change efforts within and outside of formal treatment and in relation to virtually any problem behavior. This model has gained widespread popularity in health psychology and addictions and is being used to guide interventions and allocate treatment resources in several fields. In this article, the authors review 87 studies on the stages of change across problem behaviors. Research findings suggest that the proposed stages are not mutually exclusive and that there is scant evidence of sequential movement through discrete stages in studies of specific problem behaviors, such as smoking and substance abuse. Although the stage model may have considerable heuristic value, its practical utility is limited by concerns about the validity of stage assessments. The model's underlying concepts and alternative views of readiness for change are considered, along with directions for future research.

Evidence and Gap Maps (EGMs) are a systematic evidence synthesis product which display the available evidence relevant to a specific research question. EGMs are produced following the same principles as a systematic reviews, that is: specify a PICOS, a comprehensive search, screening against explicit inclusion and exclusion criteria, and systematic coding, analysis and reporting. This paper provides guidance on producing EGMs for publication in Campbell Systematic Reviews. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

There is inconclusive evidence of the effectiveness of MST compared with other interventions with youth. There is no evidence that MST has harmful effects.

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The aim of this Campbell Systematic Review was to evaluate the effect of multi‐systemic therapy (MST) on adolescents with social, emotional, and behavioural problems based on the best available evidence. The effect is measured by a range of behavioural and psychosocial outcomes, including the number of institutional placements and arrests, the incidence of drug abuse, and personal relationships, social skills, absence from school, etc. The review is exclusively based on randomised controlled trials in which random allocation between MST and usual treatment has taken place. 266 reports were selected on the basis of title and abstract. Of these 35 were found actually to be effect studies. And finally, eight of the 35 effect studies met the pre‐set quality criteria laid down in the original Campbell/Cochrane review. The Campbell/Cochrane review concludes that MST does not have consistently better effects than other types of interventions ‐ for example, restrictive institutional placement. On the other hand, nothing indicates that MST has any negative overall effects. All in all, MST does not seem to be any better or any poorer than other treatments. The Campbell/Cochrane review concludes that there are no consistent differences in outcome between the adolescents subject to MST and those subject to alternative treatment. This conclusion is based on the best available evidence on the effectiveness of MST. Synopsis Results of eight randomised controlled trials of Multisystemic Therapy (MST) conducted in the USA, Canada, and Norway indicate that it is premature to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of MST compared with other services. Results are inconsistent across studies that vary in quality and context. There is no information about the effects of MST compared with no treatment. There is no evidence that MST has harmful effects. Abstract BackgroundMultisystemic Therapy (MST) is an intensive, home‐based intervention for families of youth with social, emotional, and behavioral problems. Masters‐level therapists engage family members in identifying and changing individual, family, and environmental factors thought to contribute to problem behavior. Intervention may include efforts to improve communication, parenting skills, peer relations, school performance, and social networks. Most MST trials were conducted by program developers in the USA; results of one independent trial are available and others are in progress. ObjectivesTo provide unbiased estimates of the impacts of MST on restrictive out‐of‐home living arrangements, crime and delinquency, and other behavioral and psychosocial outcomes for youth and families. Search strategyElectronic searches were made of bibliographic databases (including the Cochrane Library, C2‐SPECTR, PsycINFO, Science Direct and Sociological Abstracts) as well as government and professional websites, from 1985 to January 2003. Reference lists of articles were examined, and experts were contacted. Selection criteriaStudies where youth (age 10–17) with social, emotional, and/or behavi...

We identify two distinct components of parent participation in intensive family preservation services: collaboration in treatment planning and compliance with program expectations. Using hierarchical linear models, we explore influences on collaboration and compliance at the case, worker, and program levels. Effects of cross-level interactions are also examined. Parental substance abuse, mental health problems, minority status, and lack of extended family support predict lower levels of participation. Workers' perceptions of their clients and of their own working conditions appear to influence client participation. Program factors matter as well, although some operate in tandem with case characteristics and worker perceptions.