Author: Charleen Gust

Program Description: Cooperative Learning (CL) is a framework within which teachers can apply the principle of positive interdependence to design their own group-based activities using existing curricula and learning materials. CL uses reciprocal teaching, peer tutoring, jigsaw, and other group-based activities where peers work together to maximize one another’s learning. The CL approach ensures the establishment of positive peer interdependence, individual accountability, explicit coaching in collaborative skills, a high degree of face-to-face interaction, and guided processing of group performance. The structured learning activities: (a) break down biases and prejudices among students that serve as barriers to social connection, and (b) provide a mechanism by which socially isolated students can establish positive relationships with peers. To achieve both of these ends, the approach asks teachers to incorporate opportunities for positive peer interaction through carefully structured group-based learning activities. This learning strategy may be used by teachers in any subject and as often as desired. In the Blueprints-certified study, students received the intervention during the 7th and 8th grades.

Results: Blueprints has certified one study evaluating Cooperative Learning. Van Ryzin and Roseth (2017, 2018, 2019a, 2019b) and Van Ryzin et al. (2020) conducted a two-year cluster randomized controlled trial in the Pacific Northwest in which 15 middle schools were randomized to the intervention or waitlist control group. The evaluation began with 1,460 seventh graders and rose to 1,890 students with the inclusion of additional eighth graders in the second year of the study. Compared to students in the control group, students in the intervention group reported lower rates of alcohol use, emotional problems, and bullying, and higher rates of relatedness (or close relationships with peers) and prosocial behavior.

Characteristics of Study Sample as Reported by Study Authors:

Cost-Benefits: To date, the Washington State Institute for Public Policy has not conducted a cost-benefit analysis of implementing Cooperative Learning.

References:

Van Ryzin, M. J., & Roseth, C. J. (2017). Enlisting peer cooperation in the service of alcohol use prevention in middle school. Child Development. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12981

Van Ryzin, M. J., & Roseth, C. J. (2018). Cooperative learning in middle school: A means to improve peer relations and reduce victimization, bullying, and related outcomes. Journal of Educational Psychology. Advance online publication. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/edu0000265

Van Ryzin, M. J., & Roseth, C. J. (2019a). Effects of cooperative learning on peer relations, empathy, and bullying in middle school. Aggressive Behavior, 5, 643-651. doi:10.1002/ab.21858

Van Ryzin, M. J., & Roseth, C. J. (2019b). Cooperative learning effects on peer relations and alcohol use in middle school. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 64, 101059.

Van Ryzin, M. J., Roseth, C. J., & Biglan, A. (2020). Mediators of effects of cooperative learning on prosocial behavior in middle school. International Journal of Applied Positive Psychology, 5(1), 37-52.

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Program Description: Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) is a home visitation program that provides first-time, primarily low-income mothers with guidance and support in developing effective childrearing practices with the goal of improving long-term outcomes for mother and child. Beginning as early as possible during pregnancy, NFP nurses initiate home visitations with pregnant women who are predisposed to infant health and developmental problems (preterm delivery and low-birthweight children). Visits last 60-90 minutes every other week and continue through the child’s second birthday.

Program content covered in the home visits includes (a) parent education about influences on fetal and infant development; (b) the involvement of family members and friends in the pregnancy, birth, early care of the child, and support of the mother; and (c) the linkage of family members with other formal health and human services. Specific objectives include improving women’s diets; helping women monitor their weight gain and eliminate the use of cigarettes, alcohol, and drugs; teaching parents to identify the signs of pregnancy complication; encouraging regular rest, appropriate exercise, and good personal hygiene related to obstetrical health; and preparing parents for labor, delivery, and early care of the newborn.

Results: Blueprints has certified three studies evaluating Nurse-Family Partnership, each with results spanning multiple years after the end of the intervention.

Study 1: The first study produced articles over a span of several decades (Eckenrode et al., 2000, 2001, 2010, 2017; Olds et al., 1986a, 1986b, 1988, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998; Zielinski et al., 2009) and involved 400 women from private obstetric offices and a free antepartum clinic in the rural Appalachian region of New York State. Women were randomly assigned to 1) a treatment group receiving home visits during pregnancy, 2) a second treatment group receiving home visits up to 24 months after birth, or 3) a control group in which the child received sensory and developmental screening. Relative to women in the control group, nurse-visited women were significantly healthier – fewer hypertensive disorders and kidney infections, improved diet, reductions in cigarette use – during pregnancy and for two years after the child’s birth. Compared to children in the control group, children of nurse-visited mothers displayed improved emotional and cognitive development in early childhood, experienced fewer instances of child abuse and neglect through age 15, and had fewer arrests and convictions through age 19.

Characteristics of Study Sample as Reported by Study Authors:

Study 2: Olds et al. (2002, 2004, 2014) conducted a randomized controlled trial with 735 low-income pregnant women receiving antepartum care in Denver, Colorado. The women were randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups (received home visits from a nurse or a paraprofessional), or a control group that received developmental screening and referrals for the child. Relative to the control group, nurse-visited women exhibited lower levels of nicotine use during pregnancy, fewer and delayed subsequent pregnancies through the child’s second birthday, more months worked in the second year after birth, and less domestic violence through four years after birth. Additionally, the mother-child pairs showed greater levels of responsive interaction, and the children experienced less emotional vulnerability at six months of age compared to the control group.

Characteristics of Study Sample as Reported by Study Authors:

Study 3: Kitzman et al. (1997, 2000, 2010), Olds et al. (2004, 2007, 2010, 2014), Sidora-Arcoleo et al. (2010), Heckman et al. (2017), and Enoch et al. (2018) conducted a randomized controlled trial with 743 pregnant women in Memphis, Tennessee. Women were randomized to one of four groups: a high exposure treatment group, a low exposure treatment group, a usual care control group, or a slightly enhanced usual care control group offering developmental screening and referral services. All women in the nurse-visited treatment groups received intensive home visits during pregnancy, but the low exposure group received only two post-partum visits while the high exposure group continued receiving visits for 24 months after birth. Compared to women in the enhanced control group, women in the high exposure treatment group had better mental, physical, and reproductive health outcomes and more economically stable households for six years after birth. Over the first two years of life, children born to nurse-visited mothers had fewer injuries and hospitalizations compared to children of control group mothers. Program benefits of higher test scores and fewer behavior problems extended to age six for children of nurse-visited women. Maternal and child mortality rates were also significantly lower for nurse-visited mothers and their children through 20 years after birth.

Characteristics of Study Sample as Reported by Study Authors:

Cost-Benefits: In terms of cost-benefit analysis, Washington State Institute for Public Policy (December 2023) reports $1.47 in measured benefits per $1 spent in implementing Nurse-Family Partnership.

References:

Study 1
Eckenrode, J., Ganzel, B., Henderson Jr., C. R., Smith, E., Olds, D. L., Powers J., … Sidora, K. (2000). Preventing child abuse and neglect with a program of nurse home visitation: The limiting effects of domestic violence. JAMA, 284(11), 1385-91.

Eckenrode, J., Zielinski, D., Smith, E., Marcynyszyn, L. A., Henderson, C. R., Kitzman, H., … Olds, D. (2001). Child maltreatment and the early onset of problem behaviors: Can a program of nurse home visitation break the link? Development and Psychopathology, 13(4), 873-890.

Eckenrode, J., Campa, M., Luckey, D. W., Henderson, C. R., Cole, R., Kitzman, H., … Olds, D. (2010). Long-term effects of prenatal and infancy nurse home visitation on the life course of youths: 19-year follow-up of a randomized trial. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 164, 9-15.

Eckenrode, J., Campa, M. I., Morris, P. A., Henderson, C. R., Bolger, K. E., Kitzman, H., & Olds, D. L. (2017). The prevention of child maltreatment through the Nurse Family Partnership Program: Mediating effects in a long-term follow-up study. Child Maltreatment, 22(2), 92-99.

Olds, D. L., Henderson, C. R., Chamberlin, R., & Tatelbaum, R. (1986). Preventing child abuse and neglect: A randomized trial of nurse home visitation. Pediatrics, 78, 65-78.

Olds, D. L., Henderson, C. R., Tatelbaum, R., & Chamberlin, R. (1986). Improving the delivery of prenatal care and outcomes of pregnancy: A randomized trial of nurse home visitation. Pediatrics, 77, 16-28.

Olds, D. L., Henderson, C. R., Tatelbaum, R., & Chamberlin, R. (1988). Improving the life-course development of socially disadvantaged mothers: A randomized trial of Nurse Home Visitation. American Journal of Public Health, 78(11), 1436-1443.

Olds, D. L., Henderson, C. R., & Kitzman, H. (1994). Does prenatal and infancy nurse home visitation have enduring effects on qualities of parental caregiving and child health at 25 to 50 months? Pediatrics, 93, 89-98.

Olds, D. L., Henderson, C. R., Kitzman, H., & Cole, R. (1995). Effects of prenatal and infancy nurse home visitation on surveillance of child maltreatment. Pediatrics, 95(3), 365-372.

Olds, D. L., Eckenrode, J., Henderson, C. R., Kitzman, H., Powers, J., Cole, R., … Luckey, D. (1997). Long-term effects of home visitation on maternal life course and child abuse and neglect: 15-year follow-up of a randomized trial. Journal of the American Medical Association, 278(8), 637-643.

Olds, D. L., Henderson, C. R., Cole, R., Eckenrode, J., Kitzman, H., Luckey, D., … Powers, J. (1998). Long-term effects of nurse home visitation on children’s criminal and antisocial behavior: 15-year follow-up of a randomized controlled trial. Journal of the American Medical Association, 280(14), 1238-1244.

Zielinski, D. S., Eckenrode, J., & Olds, D. (2009). Nurse home visitation and the prevention of child maltreatment: Impact on the timing of official reports. Development and Psychopathology, 21, 441-453.

Study 2
Olds, D. L., Robinson, J., O’Brien, R., Luckey, D. W., Pettitt, L. M., Henderson, C. R., … Talmi, A. (2002). Home visiting by paraprofessionals and by nurses: A randomized, controlled trial. Pediatrics, 110, 486-496.

Olds, D. L., Robinson, J., Pettitt, L., Luckey, D. W., Holmberg, J., Ng, R. K., … Henderson Jr., C. R. (2004). Effects of home visits by paraprofessionals and by nurses: Age 4 follow-up results of a randomized trial. Pediatrics, 114, 1560-1568.

Olds, D. L., Holmberg, J. R., Donelan-McCall, N., Luckey, D. W., Knudtson, M. D., & Robinson, J. (2014). Effects of home visits by paraprofessionals and by nurses on children follow-up of a randomized trial at ages 6 and 9 years. JAMA Pediatrics, 168(2), 114-121.

Study 3
Enoch, M. A., Kitzman, H., Smith, J. A., Anson, E., Hodgkinson, C. A., Goldman, D., & Olds, D. L. (2018). A prospective cohort study of influences on externalizing behaviors across childhood: Results from a nurse home visiting randomized controlled trial. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 55(5), 376-382.

Heckman, J. J., Holland, M. L., Makino, K. K., Pinto, R., & Rosales-Rueda, M. (2017). An analysis of the Memphis Nurse-Family Partnership program. Cambridge, Massachusetts: National Bureau of Economic Research.

Kitzman, H., Olds, D. L., Henderson, C. R., Hanks, C., Cole, R., Tatelbaum, R., … Barnard, K. (1997). Effect of prenatal and infancy home visitation by nurses on pregnancy outcomes, childhood injuries, and repeated childbearing. Journal of the American Medical Association, 278(8), 644-652.

Kitzman, H., Olds, D. L., Sidora, K., Henderson Jr., C. R., Hanks, C., Cole, R., … Glazner, J. (2000). Enduring effects of nurse home visitation on maternal life course: A three-year follow-up of a randomized trial. Journal of the American Medical Association, 283(15), 1983-1989.

Kitzman, H., Olds, D. L., Cole, R. E., Hanks, C. A., Anson, E. A., Arcoleo, K. J., … Holmberg, J. R. (2010). Enduring effects of prenatal and infancy home visiting by nurses on children: Follow-up of a randomized trial among children at age 12 years. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 164(5), 412-418.

Olds, D. L., Kitzman, H., Cole, R., Robinson, J., Sidora, K., Luckey, D. W., … Holmberg, J. (2004). Effects of nurse home visiting on maternal life course and child development: Age 6 follow-up results of a randomized trial. Pediatrics, 114, 1550-1559.

Olds, D. L., Kitzman, H., Hanks, C., Cole, R., Anson, E., Sidora-Arcoleo, K., … Bondy, J. (2007). Effects of nurse home visiting on maternal and child functioning: Age 9 follow-up of a randomized trial. Pediatrics, 120, 832-845.

Olds, D. L., Kitzman, H., Cole, R., Hanks, C., Arcoleo, K., Anson, E., … Stevenson, A. (2010). Enduring effects of prenatal and infancy home visiting by nurses on maternal life course and government spending: Follow-up of a randomized trial among children at age 12 years. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 164(5), 419-424.

Olds, D. L., Kitzman, H., Knudtson, M. D., Anson, E., Smith, J. A., & Cole, R. (2014). Effect of home visiting by nurses on maternal and child mortality: Results of a 2-decade follow-up of a randomized clinical trial. JAMA Pediatrics, 168(9), 800-806.

Sidora-Arcoleo, K. H., Anson, E. A., Lorber, M., Cole, R. E., Olds, D. L., & Kitzman, H. J. (2010). Differential effects of a Nurse Home-Visiting Intervention on physically aggressive behavior in children. Journal of Pediatric Nursing, 25, 35-45.

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Program Description: Wyman’s Teen Connection Project is an experience-based group intervention designed to positively change social connections among high school aged youth. Delivered in school- and community-based settings, the 12-week program aims to gradually improve ongoing peer relationships and ultimately enhance academic engagement and psychosocial functioning.

The program includes twelve 45-60-minute lessons facilitated weekly by two trained adults to groups of five to 15 youth participants. Facilitators guide discussions and provide a safe source of support while modeling appropriate levels of self-disclosure for youth in discussions. The curriculum is organized in three phases: establishing buy-in and a safe peer context, developing/enhancing a sense of social belonging, and consolidating relationships. The program concludes with a strengths approach, which is aimed to further solidify the relationships formed during the sessions and leave students with the secure base of a positive self-narrative to establish and maintain connections with their peers.

Results: Blueprints has certified one study evaluating Wyman’s Teen Connection Project. Allen et al. (2020) randomly assigned 610 students from four high schools to an intervention group (n=322) or a health class as usual control group (n=288). Students reported on peer relationships and depressive symptoms at pretest, posttest, and four-month follow-up. At posttest, compared with students in the control group, program students displayed higher levels of comfort with classmates in both conditions. Further, four-month follow-up results indicated that program students displayed higher levels of comfort with classmates, were rated as more approachable by students in the control group, and had lower levels of depressive symptoms.

Characteristics of Study Sample as Reported by Study Authors:

Cost-Benefits: To date, the Washington State Institute for Public Policy has not conducted a cost-benefit analysis of implementing Wyman’s Teen Connection Project.

Reference:

Allen, J. P., Narr, R. K., Nagel, A. G., Costello, M. A., & Guskin, K. (2020). The Connection Project: Changing the peer environment to improve outcomes for marginalized adolescents. Development and Psychopathology, 1-11. doi:10.1017/S0954579419001731

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Program Description: Project Towards No Drug Abuse (TND) is a classroom-based substance abuse prevention program for high school students who are at risk for drug use and violence-related behaviors. The curriculum involves twelve 40-50-minute sessions designed to be taught by teachers or health educators over a four-week period. Sessions provide instruction in motivation activities to not use drugs; skills in self-control, communication, and resource acquisition; and decision-making strategies.

Each session is instructor-led and highly structured but also encourages active participation providing opportunities for interactions among students and between students and the teacher. The teacher’s role is to actively develop and maintain peer group support in the class by modeling support, positively reinforcing it among group members, and negatively reinforcing deviant peer bonds and activities. The teacher creates and structures interactions among youth in prosocial directions.

The program is delivered universally and has been used in both traditional and alternative high schools.

Results: Blueprints has certified four studies evaluating Project TND. A summary of the study demographics is as follows (see Table 1):

• All of the studies were conducted in high schools in southern California.
• Two studies included alternative or continuation high schools, one study included traditional high schools, and one study included a mix of both continuation and traditional high schools.
• Studies included roughly equal portions of male and female students (reported in binary male/female categories).
• Race and ethnicity were mixed with the two largest proportions being White and Latino.

Study 1: Sussman et al. (1998) and Simon et al. (2002) conducted a cluster randomized trial in which 21 alternative high schools and 1,074 students were assigned to one of three conditions: 1) TND curriculum, 2) TND curriculum plus schoolwide activities such as meetings, job training, and drug-free parties, or 3) control group. At the one-year follow-up, compared to the control group, students in either program condition reported significantly greater reductions in hard drug use prevalence rates, alcohol use rates among those who used at baseline, and rates of victimization for males.

Study 2: Dent et al. (2001) conducted a cluster randomized trial in which 26 classrooms and 1,208 students in three traditional high schools were assigned to intervention or control groups. One-year follow-up results showed significant reductions for treatment compared to control students in prevalence of hard drug use and alcohol use.

Study 3: Sussman, Dent, and Stacy (2002) and Sussman et al. (2003) conducted a cluster randomized controlled trial in which they assigned 18 continuation high schools and 1,018 students to three conditions: 1) the regular health educator-led intervention, 2) a self-instructional version of the intervention, or 3) a standard control condition. At one-year post-program, students in the health educator-led condition, compared to the other conditions, reported reduced rates of hard drug, cigarette, and marijuana use; reduced rates of alcohol use among those who used at baseline; and reduced rates of weapon carrying for those who did not carry at baseline. Additionally, at the two-year follow-up, probabilities for cigarette and hard drug use were reduced for the educator-led condition.

Study 4: Sun et al. (2008) evaluated the program with a cluster randomized controlled trial that included 18 continuation and regular high schools and data on 2,064 students. Schools were randomly assigned to 1) the cognitive perception-only portion of TND, 2) the full TND program, or 3) a control group. For this study, the program was administered by both project health educators and classroom teachers, in contrast to studies 1-3 in which only project health educators delivered the curriculum. Both program conditions led to significantly lower frequency of students’ hard drug use compared to the control condition at one-year follow-up.

Cost-Benefits: In terms of cost-benefit analysis, Washington State Institute for Public Policy (December 2019) reports $5.45 in measured benefits per $1 spent in implementing Project Towards No Drug Abuse.

References:

Study 1
Simon, T. R., Sussman, S., Dahlberg, L. L., & Dent C. W. (2002). Influence of a substance-abuse-prevention curriculum on violence-related behavior. American Journal of Health Behavior, 25, 103-110.

Sussman, S., Dent, C., Stacy, A., & Craig, S. (1998). One-year outcomes of Project Towards No Drug Abuse. Preventive Medicine, 27, 632-642.

Study 2
Dent, C., Sussman, S., & Stacy, A. (2001). Project Towards No Drug Abuse: Generalizability to a general high school sample. Preventive Medicine, 32, 514-520.

Study 3
Sussman, S., Dent, C., & Stacy, A. (2002). Project Towards No Drug Abuse: A review of the findings and future directions. American Journal of Health Behavior, 26, 354-365.

Sussman, S., Sun, P., McCuller, W. J., & Dent, C. W. (2003). Project Towards No Drug Abuse: Two-year outcomes of a trial that compares health educator delivery to self-instruction. Preventive Medicine, 37, 155-162.

Study 4
Sun, P., Sussman, S., Dent, C. W., & Rohrbach, L. A. (2008). One-year follow-up evaluation of Project Towards No Drug Abuse (TND-4). Preventive Medicine, 47, 438-442.

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Program Description: The Strong African American Families (SAAF) Program is a seven-session intervention designed for youth aged 10-14 and their caregivers. The goal of the program is to build the strengths of African American families and support parents and youth during the critical transition from early adolescence to the teen years with emphasis on helping young people avoid risky and dangerous behaviors, particularly substance use and sexual involvement.

Considering the unique strengths and stressors for African American families, especially the effects of discrimination, SAAF aims to 1) facilitate the development of a supportive and structured family environment that promotes positive parent-child relationships, (2) enhance parental engagement in parenting that involves high levels of monitoring and support, strong communication about risk behavior such as substance use and sex, and racial socialization, and (3) prepare youth to resist substance use and other risk behaviors by maintaining a future orientation, enhancing risk behavior resistance skills, and accepting parental influences.

The program is typically implemented over seven weeks and each of the seven sessions lasts two hours. During the first hour, participants meet in separate, concurrent teen and caregiver group sessions. During the second hour all of the families meet together for combined teen and caregiver activities. An optional component includes a meal prior to the start of each session to allow for communal experience and rapport building between facilitators and families. All sessions are led by African American community members trained in the SAAF curriculum.

Results: Blueprints has certified two related studies of the Strong African American Families Program.

Study 1: Brody et al. (2004, 2006) conducted a cluster randomized trial with 332 African American mothers and their 11-year-old children residing in eight rural Georgia counties. The sample consisted of the first cohort of an ongoing project (Study 2 below). Counties were randomly assigned to either the intervention (n=4 counties, 182 families) or control (n=4 counties, 150 families) conditions. Families in the control condition received three leaflets on adolescent development, stress management, and exercise. Mothers and children completed assessments at baseline, posttest, and 29-month follow-up. Compared with youth in the control condition, intervention youth reported significantly fewer risk behaviors (composite of drinking, marijuana use, and sexual intercourse) at posttest, and lower proportions of new alcohol users as well as slower rates of growth in alcohol use at long-term follow-up.

Study 2: Brody et al. (2008) used the same methods as Study 1 and expanded the sample to include a second cohort of families residing in the same Georgia counties. A total of 667 families (n=369 intervention, n=298 control) participated in the study and completed assessments at baseline, posttest, and 29-month follow-up. Youth in the intervention group reported significantly fewer conduct problems than their control counterparts at 29 months post-baseline.

Characteristics of Larger Study Sample (Cohorts 1 and 2) as Reported by Study Authors:

Cost-Benefits: To date, the Washington State Institute for Public Policy has not conducted a cost-benefit analysis of implementing Strong African American Families.

References:

Study 1:
Brody, G., McBride-Murry, V., Gerrard, G., Gibbons, F., Molgaard, V., McNair, L., . . . Neubaum-Carlan, E. (2004). The Strong African American Families program: Translating research into prevention programming. Child Development, 75(3), 900-917.

Brody, G. H., Murry, V. M., Kogan, S. M., Brown, A. C., Anderson, T., Chen, Y., . . . Wills, T. A. (2006). The Strong African American Families program: A cluster-randomized prevention trial of long-term effects and a mediational model. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 74, 356-366.

Study 2:
Brody, G., Kogan, S., Chen, Y., & McBride-Murry, V. (2008). Long-term effects of the Strong African American Families program on youths’ conduct problems. Journal of Adolescent Health, 43, 474-481.

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Program Description: Familias Unidas™ is a multilevel family-based intervention for Latino or Hispanic families residing in the United States in an emerging immigration context that is designed to prevent substance use and sexual risk behavior in adolescents. Acculturation is a multidimensional construct that includes factors such as language use and proficiency, nativity, cultural behavioral preferences, and ethnic identity. Differences between parents and youth in their levels and rates of acculturation have the potential to create “acculturation gaps” that increase stress in a family and disrupt effective parenting and healthy youth adjustment. To be maximally effective in this culturally specific context, Familias Unidas addresses how parents manage the family environment.

Influenced by culturally specific models, the process first builds a strong parent-support network and then uses the network to increase knowledge of culturally relevant parenting, strengthen parenting skills, and apply new skills in a series of activities designed to help their adolescent children deal successfully with the challenges of daily life. The program is delivered primarily through multi-parent groups and family visits. The parent groups meet in 8 to 9 weekly two-hour sessions that are led by a Spanish-speaking bicultural facilitator. Each group has 12 to 15 parents, with at least one parent from each participating family. Group discussions aim to increase parents’ understanding of their role in protecting their adolescent from harmful and risky behaviors and to facilitate parental investment. Each family receives 4 to 10 one-hour visits in which parents are encouraged to apply the newly learned parenting skills while interacting with their adolescent.

Familias Unidas™ also involves meetings of parents with school personnel, including the school counselor and teachers, to connect parents to their adolescent’s school world. Family activities involving the parents, the adolescent, and his or her peers and their families allow parents to connect to their adolescent’s peer network and practice monitoring skills.

Results: Blueprints has certified one study evaluating Familias Unidas™. Pantin et al. (2009) randomly assigned 213 8th grade students with at least mild behavior problems in three Florida middle schools to intervention or control groups. Control families received three referrals to agencies in the catchment area that serve youth experiencing behavioral challenges. Parents and adolescents completed assessments in the language of their choice at baseline and 6, 18, and 30 months post baseline.

Youth who received Familias Unidas™ reported a lower rate of increase in substance use, compared with controls, from baseline to 30 months post baseline (15% to 25% vs. 13% to 34%). The two groups did not differ on engagement in sexual intercourse, but sexually active youth in the intervention group reported significantly increased levels of condom use from 6 months to 30 months post baseline compared with those in the control group. Additionally, family functioning improved significantly more in the intervention group than the control group, and parents in the treatment group reported a smaller percentage of youth displaying externalizing behaviors compared to parents in the control group.

Characteristics of Study Sample as Reported by Study Authors:

 

Cost-Benefits: In terms of cost-benefit analysis, Washington State Institute for Public Policy (December 2019) reports $2.99 in measured benefits per $1 spent in implementing Familias Unidas™.

Reference:

Pantin, H., Prado, G., Lopez, B., Huang, S., Tapia, M. I., Schwartz, S. J., . . . Branchini, J. (2009). A randomized controlled trial of Familias Unidas for Hispanic adolescents with behavior problems. Psychosomatic Medicine, 71, (9), 987-995.

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Program Description: SNAP® Boys is a 13-week, multi-component treatment program for boys aged 6-11 years who have had police contact as a result of delinquency or who are at risk of police contact. SNAP® Boys is based on a cognitive behavioral model and focuses on the development and treatment of aggression and antisocial behavior and consists of five core components adapted from established interventions for children with conduct problem behaviors: (1) boys problem solving and self-control skills training group; (2) parent training group; (3) family counseling; (4) individual befriending; and (5) school support and reading tutoring. The primary objective of the program is to reduce police contact among a population which is at risk for engaging in criminal activity by decreasing the factors that place children at risk for continued delinquency and strengthening the protective factors of the parents, the child, and the family structure. The intervention is aimed at the child, the family, and the child-in-the-community, which have been found to yield the most positive long-term preventative effects.

Results: Blueprints has certified one study evaluating SNAP® Boys. Burke and Loeber (2014, 2016) conducted a randomized controlled trial in which 252 boys were randomized to intervention (n=130) or standard community services control (n=122) groups. Assessments were completed at baseline, upon program completion, and six and 12 months after program completion (though some participants continued to receive SNAP services through the follow-up periods). Twelve months after program completion, relative to controls, intervention participants had a lower number of criminal charges reported in official criminal records, and significantly lower scores on parent-ratings of:

• aggressive behavior,
• conduct problems,
• externalizing behavior,
• internalizing behavior,
• withdrawn-depressed behavior,
• anxious-depressed behavior,
• attention deficit hyperactivity disorder symptoms,
• oppositional defiant disorder symptoms,
• depression symptoms,
• separation anxiety symptoms.

Additionally, intervention boys had significantly higher scores on:

• prosocial behaviors,
• emotional regulation skills,
• problem solving skills.

Characteristics of Study Sample as Reported by Study Authors:

References:

Burke, J. D., & Loeber, R. (2014). The effectiveness of the Stop Now and Plan (SNAP) program for boys at risk for violence and delinquency. Prevention Science, 16, 242-253.

Burke, J. D., & Loeber, R. (2016). Mechanisms of behavioral and affective treatment outcomes in a cognitive behavioral intervention for boys. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 44 (1), 179-189.

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