There is strong research support for the effectiveness and feasibility of family-centered, evidence-based programs (EBPs) to prevent the developmental and negative effects of youth problem behaviors. Despite this support, there is a relatively low rate of disseminating existing EBPs to diverse nations and cultures, and there is even less research being conducted to evaluate the existing efforts towards dissemination and uptake. Youth problem behavior prevention is a burgeoning area of psychological study in Spain, yet Spanish psychologists do not currently utilize evidence-based prevention approaches. This study aimed to fill gaps in the research related to understanding best practices in disseminating and evaluating the dissemination of EBPs to international settings and to evaluating the uptake of a family-centered EBPs for use in Spain to prevent problem behavior in adolescence and adulthood.
The current study utilized a pretest/posttest with a follow-up, randomized control design to conduct a pilot feasibility and effectiveness trial of a family-centered EBP proven to effectively prevent problem behavior during adolescence. Seventeen pre-adolescents (ages 9-12) and their parents from the Seville metropolitan area in Spain were randomly assigned to receive the Family Check-Up intervention (FCU) or waitlist-control condition. This study used a multimodal, multi-agent approach to (1) examine intervention feasibility and uptake, (2) measure trends in youth adjustment and family management practices in the study sample, (3) examine differences in youth behavior and internalizing problems, and positive parenting, limit setting, and monitoring based on intervention group assignment, and (4) measure motivation to change based on random assignment to the intervention condition. Results from mixed effects repeated analysis of variance analyses indicated that the intervention group made significant improvements in conduct and internalizing problems and in parental limit setting, positive parenting, and family problem solving. These quantitative findings coupled with confirmatory qualitative themes suggest that the intervention was both effective in reducing youth adjustment problems and enhancing parenting skills and feasible when applied within the Spanish cultural context. Implications of culturally sensitive, community-based methods of intervention dissemination are discussed.
Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uoregon.edu/oai:scholarsbank.uoregon.edu:1794/13219 |
Date | 03 October 2013 |
Creators | Margolis, Kathryn |
Contributors | Stormshak, Elizabeth |
Publisher | University of Oregon |
Source Sets | University of Oregon |
Language | en_US |
Detected Language | English |
Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
Rights | All Rights Reserved. |
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