The Effectiveness of Functional Family Therapy in Reducing Adolescent Mental Health Risk and Family Adjustment Difficulties in an<scp>I</scp>rish Context

This article presents results of a study on the effectiveness of Functional Family Therapy (FFT), a family intervention designed to prevent delinquency. The sample includes 155 court‐involved youth. This study employs two complementary outcomes: court‐obtained data on recidivism and the clinical data on clients’ psychosocial functioning, the Strengths and Needs Assessment (SNA). Adolescents in the treatment and in the comparison groups experienced statistically significant improvements on the majority of the SNA domains. Although youths in the treatment group improved more, the differences between the groups were not statistically significant. Multivariate analysis showed that youths in FFT had significantly lower odds of recidivism as measured by reconvictions for drug offenses, property offenses and technical violations. The results suggest that FFT was effective in reducing recidivism, however, such reductions cannot be attributed to improvements in the SNA scores.

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“…In another study, based at the same site, Hartnett et al . () found that improvements shown via SDQ were sustained at three‐month follow‐up.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 97%

An outcome evaluation of Functional Family Therapy for court‐involved youth

Celinska

Sung

Kim

et al. 2018

Journal of Family Therapy

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“…In addition to these validation studies, in two controlled trials, improvements occurred on the SCORE‐28 in the treatment group, but not in the control group (Cassells et al., ; Hartnett, Carr, & Sexton, ). In a study of the Polish SCORE‐15, this instrument was found not to be sensitive to therapeutic change over three sessions in the context in which it was evaluated.…”

Section: Overall Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Score Family Assessment Questionnaire: A Decade of Progress

Carr

Stratton

2017

Family Process

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This paper reviews a decade of research (2006-2016) on a family assessment instrument called the Systemic Clinical Outcome and Routine Evaluation (SCORE). The SCORE was developed in Europe to monitor progress and outcome in systemic therapy and has been adopted by the European Family Therapy Association as the main instrument for assessing the outcome in systemic family and couple therapy. There are currently six main versions of this instrument: SCORE-40, SCORE-15, SCORE-28, SCORE-29, Child SCORE-15, and Relational SCORE-15. It has also been translated into a number of European languages. Fifteen empirical studies of the SCORE "family of measures" have been conducted. Most have aimed to establish psychometric properties of these instruments in English and other languages. Others have used the SCORE to document the level of family adjustment in clinical samples or evaluate outcome in treatment trials. There is now sufficient evidence for the reliability and validity of the SCORE to justify the use of brief versions of this instrument to monitor progress and outcome in the routine practice of systemic therapy.

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“…Positive findings, in the form of reduced reoffending rates, have been reported in Norway (Thøgersen, ), and Sweden (Hansson, Cederblad, & Höök, ). Two studies in Ireland (Graham, Carr, Rooney, Sexton, & Wilson Satterfield, ; Hartnett, Carr, & Sexton, ) reported success in implementation, as well as significant, sustained reductions in youth behavioral problems. However, a recent RCT conducted in the United Kingdom did not find any differences in reoffending rates or self‐reported delinquency between youth who received FFT, relative to those in a comparison group (Humayun et al., ).…”

Section: Family Functioning and Youth Offendingmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Implementation of Functional Family Therapy (FFT) as an Intervention for Youth Probationers in Singapore

Gan

Zhou

Hoo

et al. 2018

J Marital Family Therapy

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Family functioning is predictive of youth recidivism in Singapore. However, there is a lack of family based interventions for youth offenders on community probation. Evidence-based family interventions developed in Western populations, such as Functional Family Therapy (FFT), have been found to be effective in mitigating subsequent youth criminal behavior. However, no study has examined whether such interventions can be implemented and adapted for use in Eastern cultures. Thus, this paper sought to detail the implementation of FFT in Singapore. Rationale for the adoption of FFT is discussed, and key activities undertaken during the first 18 months of implementation are described. Preliminary data suggest that initial implementation efforts were successful. Challenges encountered, and implications in relation to the broader literature are discussed.

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The Effectiveness of Functional Family Therapy in Reducing Adolescent Mental Health Risk and Family Adjustment Difficulties in anIrish Context

Cited by 51 publications

References 39 publications

An outcome evaluation of Functional Family Therapy for court‐involved youth

An outcome evaluation of Functional Family Therapy for court‐involved youth

The Score Family Assessment Questionnaire: A Decade of Progress

The Implementation of Functional Family Therapy (FFT) as an Intervention for Youth Probationers in Singapore

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