Results of the Spanish Cultural Adaptation of the Strengthening Families Program 12-16

Carmen Orte, Lluís Ballester, Joan Amer, Marga Vives, Maria Antònia Gomila, Rosario Pozo, Belén Pascual, Karol L. Kumpfer

Introduction: The Family Competence Program (FCP) for 12 to 16-year-old teenagers is the Spanish adaptation of the Strengthening Families Program (SFP) (Kumpfer & DeMarsh, 1985).

Method: Quasi-experimental design, with control group. As for the experimental group, 81 families began the program, taking part in 9 different applications. Of these 81 families, 69 of them (85.19%) completed the 14 sessions. To analyze family change, the instruments are the Spanish validated version of Kumpfer’s questionnaires for parents and children. Furthermore, it is also used the Behavioral Assessment System for Children (BASC), also validated for the Spanish population. About drugs, the instrument is the Questionnaire about Attitudes towards Drugs (CAD in Spanish), validated questionnaire of the Spanish National Plan against Drugs. Pretests and post-tests with t tests were undertaken, and 6-month follow-ups are now under way. About data analysis, to detect between which groups changes took place, ANOVA with post hoc Tukey b tests is used. Also, the t test and size effects (Cohen d) are calculated.

Results: Regarding families, according to the parents, there are significant results in family resilience (ES= 0.828; t= -3.382; p= 0.001), family cohesion (ES= 0.761; t= -3.390; p=0.001), family organization (ES= 0.483; t= -2.438; p= 0.016), positive parenting (ES= 0.970; t= -5.538; p= 0.000), effective parenting skills (ES= 1.253; t= -5.393; p= 0.000). In relation to families, according to adolescents, there are almost significant changes in monitoring of school problems (ES=0.428; t=-1.901; p=0.059) and in the abilities for setting limits and avoiding problems (ES=0.356; t=-1.925; p=0.056). About adolescents, according to the parents, there are significant changes in attention problems (ES=0.405; t= 2.219; p= 0.028), depression (ES=0.449; t= 2.093; p= 0.038), anxiety (ES=0.378; t=2.084; p=0.039), problem internalization (ES= 0.503; t= 2.540; p= 0.012), adaptive skills (ES= 0.373; t= -2.072; p= 0.040). Also about adolescents, according to themselves, there are no significant results. Last, regarding availability towards consumption, there is a significant difference in the results between pre and post-test (PRE Mean= 1.630; POST Mean= 0.725; p= 0.001).

Conclusion: The Spanish SFP 12-16 achieves good percentages of family retention at the end of the program. Furthermore, there are positive results in several factors. For the future, it will be analyzed the maintenance of the effects in the long-term. On the whole, results are coherent with the developed intervention model and there are consistent with almost all of the results of the benchmark applications and other international adaptations.

This abstract was submitted to the 2017 Society for Prevention Research Annual Meeting.