Needs assessment for cultural adaptation of Strengthening Families Program (SFP 10-14-UK) in Brazil

Abstract

This study sought to evaluate the cultural adequacy of materials and procedures of the Strengthening Families Program (SFP 10-14-UK) and to identify requirements for its cultural adaptation to Brazilian families. The descriptive study had 33 informants, including external observers, managers, multipliers, facilitators, adolescents, and parents. The data were collected at a pilot application in the Federal District. Direct observation was applied to four intervention groups, with seven meetings of 150 min for families, parents/guardians and adolescents, and mixed nominal groups at the end of the interventions. The results, analyzed through content analysis and descriptive statistics, provided evidence that SFP was perceived as sufficiently appealing, culturally relevant, and partially clear. Recommendations for cultural adaptation of linguistic aspects of the materials and procedures were made, considering the cultural and educational differences of the participant families. Focus on implementation quality, including infrastructure, families' mobilization and continuous planning, was recommended. Replication studies in other Brazilian regions and analyses of contextual and political dimensions are suggested.

Exploring the short-term effects of the Strengthening Families Program on Brazilian adolescents: a pre-experimental study

“…Third, even though SFP 10-14 has been through multiple waves of cultural adaptation to Brazil (Murta et al, 2018;Menezes, 2017), it is possible that the intervention still lacks cultural sensitivity in the face of the extreme poverty experienced by the participating families. Evidence from another study indicated facilitators considered it excessively structured, inflexible, and decontextualized overall for illiterate parents (Menezes, Nobre-Sandoval, & Murta, 2020).…”

Cultural Adaptation Process of the Strengthening Families Program (10–14) Around the World: an Integrative Review

“…The results reveal the scarcity of published studies that examine the SFP 10-14 cultural adaptation process. Although it has been adapted in at least 18 countries (e.g., Allen et al 2006;Corea et al 2012;Murta et al 2018;Ortega et al 2012;Orpinas et al 2014;Orte-Socias and Amer-Fernández 2014;Skärstrand et al 2008;Vasquez et al 2010), there are few publications about how and why modifications were made. This data is consistent with the findings of a recent scoping review that identified a relative lack of evidence-based cultural adaptation efforts, promising practices, and best practices (Thier et al 2020).…”

“…In Europe, it was adapted for the UK (Allen et al 2006), Ireland, Italy, Poland, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Spain (Orte-Socias and Amer-Fernández 2014), and Sweden (Skärstrand et al 2008). In Latin America, adaptations were made in Honduras (Vasquez et al 2010), Costa Rica, El Salvador, Peru (Ortega et al 2012), Chile (Corea et al 2012), Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador (Orpinas et al 2014), and Brazil (Murta et al 2018). Except for Brazil, the version of SFP 10-14 used in Latin America came from a cultural adaptation made by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) in collaboration with the program developers (Pan American Health Organization 2009).…”

Barriers and Facilitators in the Strengthening Families Program (SFP 10–14) Implementation Process in Northeast Brazil: A Retrospective Qualitative Study

“…SPF 10–14 has an implementation manual, translated and adapted for Brazil [ 30 ]. The procedures and materials were analyzed in a pilot study in 2013 in the Federal District to assess needs for cultural adaptation [ 5 ]. This was followed by cultural adaptation in its superficial structure before its dissemination to other Brazilian regions [ 31 ].…”

“…In 2013, Brazil’s Ministry of Health adopted internationally developed evidence-based drug abuse preventive programs focused on the school environment [ 2 , 3 , 4 ] and the family environment [ 5 ], in response to the lack of effective and scalable national preventive programs [ 6 ]. The Strengthening Families Program (SFP 10–14), or Programa Famílias Fortes , as it is known in Brazil, originally developed at the University of Utah in the United States [ 7 ], was one of the programs selected due to previous studies indicating its long-term effectiveness [ 8 , 9 ] in various countries [ 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ].…”