The Strengthening Families Program (SPF), developed by Dr. Karol Kumpfer, professor emeritus at the University of Utah and colleagues, is an evidence-based, internationally recognized parenting and youth life-skills training program designed to reduce youth alcohol and drug use. The classes are for parents and children to attend, with separate parent and youth classes for the first hour and a combined parent-youth practice session for the second hour. The SFP parenting and youth life-skills training has also been found to reduce the risk factors for other negative youth outcomes, including depression and delinquency.
SFP began in 1982 on a five-year prevention research grant funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). The research project's goal was to discover which parenting skills were necessary for drug-abusing parents to keep their children from following their path and becoming addicted to alcohol or drugs.
The research showed that to reduce risk factors in children of higher risk families, it was essential to improve the family environment and the parents' abilities to nurture and provide appropriate learning opportunities for their children. Because of the large number of parent and family relations problems found in families where parents are depressed, stressed, or substance-abusing, the research showed that lasting changes required more than a short parenting class. It was also discovered that children also needed to learn pro-social life skills, and then practice the skills in class with their parents.
Because family environment is a precursor which influences even a child's choice of friends, it is apparent that improving parent and child relations must be a major goal of any prevention intervention program. In addition, it has been found that a positive family climate characterized bysupportive parent/child relationships, communication of positive family values, discipline that is neither lax nor harsh, and parental supervision, is even more influential in protecting ethnic youth from drug use (Kumpfer & Alvarado, 1993, CSAP, 2001).
The SFP skills training classes were also found to help the general or universal family improve parenting skills, reduce parenting stresses and family conflict, build happy family relationships, and serve as a powerful prevention tool against youth delinquency, depression, and drug use. SFP is thus suitable and effective for all families – not just those who are at-risk. Over the past 30 years, SFP has been tested and found effective in all 50 US states and 30 other countries for high and low-risk families by independent researchers in randomized control trials and health services research. SFP showed very positive results in reducing substance abuse and delinquency risk factors by improving family relationships (Kumpfer, Pinyuchon, de Melo, & Whiteside, 2008; Kumpfer, Magalhães, Xie, & Kanse, 2015). Outcomes include increased family strengths and resilience and reduced risk factors for problem behaviors in high-risk children, including behavioral problems, emotional, academic, and social problems. SFP builds protective factors by improving family relationships, parenting skills, and youth's social, life, and refusals skills. SFP meets all US federal agencies' standards for evidence-based prevention programs.
SFP classes have been implemented in schools, churches, drug treatment centers, family and youth service agencies, counselors’ offices, child protection, foster care agencies, community mental health centers, housing projects and much more.
SFP is designed to reduce environmental risk factors and improve protective factors with the ultimate objective of increasing personal resilience to drug use and other risky behavior in high-risk youth. Research has demonstrated that the program is equally effective in reducing risk precursors for mental disorders, aggression, juvenile delinquency, school failure, teenage pregnancy, and HIV/AIDS. One of the intermediate outcomes of SFP is to decrease child abuse and neglect, by increasing parent’s love, nurturing, and empathy for their children. SFP is now being used by courts and family service agencies to prevent costly placement of children in foster care or group homes and to promote family reunification as part of a more comprehensive in-home case management service.
SFP is one of the most effective programs for influencing family change because it involves not just the parents or the children alone, but the whole family. The SFP is unique among parenting and family programs because it was developed specifically for children in higher risk families (in the initial trial, it was alcohol and drug-abusing parents). Subsequently in a randomized control trial, SFP was found highly effective in reducing conduct problems and improving family relations in general population (Kumpfer, et. al, 2002).
SFP is a joint parent and children’s skills-training program that has been shown to reduce youth substance abuse, depression, and delinquency by training parents and their children in parenting and family relationship skills, pro-social behaviors, and alcohol and drug refusal skills. You are about to begin an exciting program that will greatly benefit families and children in your community. The challenges and excitement of teaching families new skills to improve their family life and keep their children safe from abuse and addiction cannot be overestimated. We are sure that this dynamic program will provide welcome skills to educate parents, strengthen families, and greatly improve the lives of the vulnerable children you serve for generations! It will also provide a deep sense of personal satisfaction for yourself.
Typically, six to twelve families is right for each class. But it is important to consider the size of your families, how many children they have, how at-risk or challenging they may be, the size of your rooms, and the skill of your Family Coaches. Too few families make it “not so fun.” Always recruit more than needed to allow for drop-outs, typically after sessions one and two.
Depending on how it is taught, SFP 7-17 can be a "universal" prevention program for low-risk families, but also as a “selective” or “indicated” program for higher-at-risk populations with SFP Family Coaches working directly with the families.
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The material for this page is repliaced from https://strengtheningfamiliesprogram.org/
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