Abstracts
Family Drug Court, Targeted Parent Training and Family Reunification: Did this Enhanced Service Strategy Make A Difference? Juvenile and Family Court Journal/Spring 2015
By Jody Brook, Becci A. Akin, Margaret H. Lloyd, and Yueqi Yan
Abstract: This article reports findings from an evaluation of reunification outcomes for children and families who participated in a family drug court (FDC) that incorporated the use of two innovative evidence-based parenting programs. In addition to comprehensive FDC services, families participated in the Strengthening Families Program and Celebrating Families! program in a sequential format. Data analyses were conducted on a sample of 214 children whose child welfare cases were adjudicated through the FDC and 418 matched comparison cases. Entry-cohort survival analysis results indicated that families receiving FDC services were more than twice as likely to reunify in a 45-month observation window.
An Evaluation of the Impact of the Celebrating Families! Program and Family Drug Treatment Court (FDTC) on Parents receiving Family Reunification Services
By Giorgio A. Quittan Social Work 298 Special Project Presented to the Faculty of the College of Social Work, San Jose State University
Abstract: This study was a program evaluation, which examined the effectiveness of the Family Drug Treatment Court (FDTC) and Celebrating Families! Program (CF!) and utilized quantitative and qualitative research methods. The quantitative component employed a survey using secondary data collection at the Department of Family and Children Services in Santa Clara County, California. Celebrating Families! is a pilot project model initiated in Santa Clara County’s Family Drug Treatment Court by Rosemary Tisch and Linda Sibley in January 2003. This educational support group for children of substance abusers (alcoholics/addicts) with their recovering parents was designed with the primary goal to break the cycle of addiction in the families. A purposive sample of 78 parents was extracted from the child welfare system (CWS) database of Santa Clara County Department of Social Services. Using a series of bivariate statistical analyses, results showed that Drug Court and Celebrating Families! had 72% to 73% reunification rates, where Traditional CWS Case Plan cases had 37% reunification rate. The difference with Drug Court and Celebrating Families! cases were significant. In addition, results showed a significant trend between program outcome and timeline. The mean comparison of length of time in the child welfare system showed that families who participated in CF! reunified with their children between 6 to 12 months, those in FDTC between 13 to 18 months, and families who participated in the Traditional Child Welfare Case Plans reunified in 19 to 24 months. A qualitative eight-question survey was administered to analyze strength and weaknesses of the Celebrating Families! program and to solicit suggestions for the program’s future changes to five key informants from the Family Drug Treatment Team including drug court staff and counselors. The survey results showed that CF! was effective in providing a positive impact in strengthening parent/child relationships, as well as raising parents’ awareness of the effects of substance abuse.
Final Outcome Evaluation May 2007 Report for Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health
By LutraGroup (K. Kumpfer, Ph.D.)
Summary of CF! Outcomes: The main finding of the process evaluation is that CF! can be implemented with quality and fidelity in community agencies. The outcome evaluation on 62 families suggests positive medium size (Cohen’s d = .52 to .70) improvements in four of the five family outcomes (cohesion, communication, family strengths and resilience and organization) measured and one small positive reduction in family conflict (d = .15). Likewise, four of the five parenting outcomes (parent involvement, supervision, efficacy, and positive parenting style) improved with medium effect size (d = .50 to .60), but parenting skills only had a small positive improvement (d = .18). These are excellent outcomes equivalent to other family skills training programs such as SFP and in some cases larger. The children’s posttest outcomes were mixed and small. There were two small positive results for improvements in children’s social skills (d = .19) and were also depression (d = .16). However, there were also two statistically significant negative results in the children’s outcomes for increased hyperactivity (d =.38) and overt aggression (d = .22). The results for the other three outcomes (improved concentration, covert aggression, and criminality were non-significant changes).These results for CF! were compared to similar drug treatment sites in the national database for the proposed comparison program–the more well-known evidence-based program, Strengthening Families Program (SFP). CF! compared favorably except in the area of the children’s outcomes. Reasons for the lack of positive improvements generally found for the children’s outcomes except for reduction in depression and improvements in social skills should be explored.
Family-Centered Interventions for Substance Abuse in Hispanic Communities, Journal of Ethnicity in Substance Abuse, 12:68–81, 2013 Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLCISSN: 1533-2640 print/1533-2659 onlinedoi: 10.1080/15332640.2013.759785
By Shirley N. Sparks emeriti, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan, Rosemary Tisch and Mary Gardner, Prevention Partnership International, Saratoga, California
Treatment programs geared toward Hispanic culture are extremely rare, and programs involving the entire Hispanic family are virtually nonexistent. Two prospective studies test the hypothesis that a family-centered intervention is as effective with Hispanic families as it is with non-Hispanic families. First, the program (Celebrating Families!) was presented in English to non-Hispanic and Hispanic families. Second, the program was translated into Spanish and adapted to Spanish culture (¡Celebrando Familias!). Hispanic families were compared with non-Hispanic families in both studies. These studies indicate that a family-centered treatment model can be an effective treatment intervention for Hispanic clients.
Year One (FY ’05 – ’06) Evaluation Report for Celebrating Families! Grant July 15, 2006 Year One.
By LutraGroup (K. Kumpfer, Ph.D.)
Executive Summary: The most significant result of this Year One evaluation is that preliminary outcome evaluation results suggest that Celebrating Families! will prove to be as effective as the most similar evidence-based family program, Strengthening Families Program (SFP). CF! partnered with SFP, a widely disseminated, evidence-based family skills program with similar format and target population, to test CF!’s effectiveness. (SFP is a dosage equivalent program with a similar multiple group format: both programs include 15-16 week parenting, children’s social skills, and family relationship groups for families with substance abusing parents.) The programs differ in content: CF! focuses on affective or cognitive changes while SFP focuses on behavioral changes. CF! parenting and family outcomes are very large in terms of effect sizes, or changes in the families, even exceeding those of SFP. These large effect sizes suggest that CF! results in highly significant change in the parents and family interaction patterns. Child outcomes also have relatively large effect sizes.
The Success Rate of Hispanic vs. Non-Hispanic Participants in Celebrating Families!
By Kent D. Coleman, Social Work 298 College of Social Work, San Jose State University
Abstract May, 2006: This study investigated the effectiveness of Celebrating Families! for substance abusers and their families. In addition to performing an overall evaluation, outcomes for Hispanics were compared to those for non-Hispanics participating in the program. The research involved 37 adult participants and utilized secondary data collected via a set of instruments including demographic questions and items pertaining to the effectiveness of CF! which were measured in 5 areas: parenting skills, family strengths/resilience, parent drug and alcohol use, parent observations of their children’s behavior, and parent social/cognitive skills. Findings indicated that all participants showed significant improvement at post-test and that Hispanics showed more improvement when compared to non-Hispanics. This demonstrates that CF! may be effective among different ethnic groups and might be successful in diverse communities. Implications for social work include that the CF! program may be a valuable resource for social work practitioners working in ethnically diverse communities, especially with Hispanic clients, and that similar programs might learn from the strategies and curriculum offered by CF!
