This study investigated the efficacy of brief strategic family therapy (BSFT) with Hispanic behavior problem and drug using youth, an underrepresented population in the family therapy research literature. One hundred twenty-six Hispanic families with a behavior problem adolescent were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 conditions: BSFT or group treatment control (GC). Results showed that, compared to GC cases, BSFT cases showed significantly greater pre- to post-intervention improvement in parent reports of adolescent conduct problems and delinquency, adolescent reports of marijuana use, and observer ratings and self reports of family functioning. These results extend prior findings on the efficacy of family interventions to a difficult to treat Hispanic adolescent sample.

Brief Strategic/Structural Family Therapy was implemented as an indicated prevention intervention to reduce the likelihood that African American and Hispanic youth initiated drug use. The intervention wets designed to impact two important risk factors for initiation, namely behavior problems and poor family functioning. One hundred twenty-two youth, 12-14 years of age and exhibiting behavior problems, were assigned within a basic one-group pretest/posttest/follow-up, design.The first important finding was that the prevention intervention was effective in significantly modifying both high-risk factors, reducing behavior problems [F(2, 120) = 32.92; p < .000] and improving family functioning [F(1, 121) = 41.8; p < .000]. A second important finding was that both high-risk variables targeted were statistically significant predictors of initiation nine months later. A third important finding was that for a small subset of youth who entered the program already using overall use was significantly decreased [t(22) = 2.11, p < .05]. (C) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

This study reports data on the efficacy of Strategic Structural Systems Engagement (SSSE), which is designed to bring hard-to-reach families into treatment. The study also explores variables that may contribute to differential effectiveness. Participants were 193 Hispanic families, who were randomly assigned to either experimental or control conditions. Several important findings emerged. First, the overall results replicated earlier findings showing the superiority of SSSE : 81% of SSSE families, compared to 60% of control families, were successfully engaged, χ 2 (1, N = 193) = 7.5, p <.001. Second, SSSE interventions were more successful with non-Cuban Hispanics (97% successfully engaged) than with Cuban Hispanics (64% successfully engaged), χ 2 (1, N = 51) = 7.53, p =.006. Third, an analysis of intervention failures suggests a mechanism by which culture and ethnicity influence clinical processes (resistance to engagement) and may result in differential effectiveness.

Evidence ispresentedfor the efficacy of Family Effectiveness Training (FET). FET is a prevention/intervention modality designedfor use with Hispanicfamilies of preadolescents who are "at risk" for future drug abuse. Family Effectiveness Training targets a constellation offactors that putfamilies at riskfor developing a drug abusing adolescent. Intervention strategies target existing maladaptive family interactions, and prevention strategies target two common stressors in Hispanic families: intergenerational and intercultural conflicts. Seventy-nine Hispanic families meeting the criteria for "at-risk"families constituted the subject population. Families were randomly assigned to either an FET condition or to Minimum Contact Control Condition. A Solomon Four Group Design was used to test the effects of both the intervention and the assessment procedures. Three sets of analyses were conducted: (I)for all subjects, 2 X 2 ANOVAs investigating the effects of intervention and preassessment on posttest outcome scores; and (2) for subjects with preassessment, ANCO VAs investigating the effects of FETand control conditions on outcome, using preassessment scores as covariates; and (3) repeated measures ANO VAs investigating the long-term impact of FETfrom pre to post tofollow-up. There were no significant effects due to preassessmentfor any of the variables measured. Families in the FET condition showed significantly greater improvement than did control families on independent measures of structuralfamilyfunctioning, problem behaviors as reported by parents, and on a self-administered measure of child self-concept. FET impact was generally maintained at the time of a six-month follow-up.

This study compares the efficacy of Bicultural Effectiveness Training (BET), a new intervention modality, and Structural Family Therapy (SFT), an established treatment approach. Cuban American families experiencing intercultural and intergenerational differences in which an adolescent member manifested symptoms of conduct disorder and/or social mal-adjustment were the subjects. The experimental intervention condition, BET, uses culture as content around which to bring about changes in the family's style of relating. The comparison (control) condition, SFT, is an approach which also focuses on changing the family's style of relating but, in comparison to BET, it is more process oriented and may use any content that emerges from the family. The relative effectiveness of the two family intervention modalities was determined by the degree to which improvement was achieved, as assessed by treatment outcome instruments designed to measure family interactional patterns (structure), family levels of acculturation and biculturalism, and adolescent behavior problems and psychopathology. The findings indicated that families/adolescents in both treatment groups demonstrated significant pre-post treatment changes in the hypothesized direction. This finding is important since BET is a standarized method of service delivery that is attractive to families, is easily replicable, and has the potential for broad distribution, making it useful to early intevention and prevention approaches.

The One-Person Family Therapy approach to the treatment of drug abuse described here is based on the Brief Strategic Family Therapy conceptual framework. It represents an innovative integration of family therapy techniques that have proven effective in working with entire families and techniques specifically designed for use with one family member. OPFT appears to be as effective as conjoint family therapy with adolescent drug abusers and their families. It thus provides skilled family therapists (generally master's-level social workers and psychologists with training and experience in structural family therapy) with a novel and useful tool for carrying out family therapy, while minimizing the problem of retaining entire families in therapy. Further work should concentrate on improving our ability to engage families of drug-abusing adolescents in the therapy process, generalizing results to other types of samples, learning more about using an OP who is not also the identified patient, exploring the possibility of switching OPs, exploring the use of spaced followup therapy, and integrating OPFT and CFT sessions more fully. However, it is clear that OPFT is a practical, cost-effective, field-oriented intervention for use with drug-abusing adolescents.

This report describes a treatment intervention for enhancing intercultural adjustment in Cuban American families. Bicultural Effectiveness Training (BET) is a clearly defined and easily replicable, culturally sensitive intervention that targets on a specific problem area: intergenerational conflicts and conduct disorders in adolescents, either provoked or exacerbated by the stress of acculturation and cross-cultural adaptation. Previous research on acculturation, biculturalism and adjustment are reviewed and the basic and theoretical features of the BET model are discussed. The BET intervention modality described in this paper was designed to capitalize on certain features of culture conflict in order to ameliorate acculturative stress. By reducing culture conflict and acculturative stress BET enhances adjustment in Cuban American families and reduces conduct disorders in adolescents. BET teaches family members that skills for effective functioning in different value contexts (cultural or otherwise) can be viewed as complementary and enriching to the individual.

This article presents the results of a therapy-outcome study designed to compare the relative effectiveness of conjoint family therapy (CFT, therapy with the entire family present for most sessions) and one-person family therapy (OPFT, therapy with only one family member present for most sessions). The working hypothesis of the study was that it would be possible to achieve the goals of family therapy (structural family change and symptom reduction) by working primarily with one person. Results were presented on 37 Hispanic families randomly assigned to one of the two treatment modalities (i.e., CFT or OPFT). Data were analyzed using a mixed-design (repeated measures plus between-group independent variable) analysis of variance with treatment (OPFT vs. CFT) as the between-group independent variable and time of assessment (intake, termination, follow-up) as the repeated measure. The results indicated that both conditions were highly effective in improving family functioning and that OPFT was slightly more effective in reducing identified patient symptomatology. Clinical and practical issues are discussed as well as the implications of the findings for the current theory and practice of family therapy.