Family Approaches to Treating Delinquents (From Mental Illness, Delinquency, Addictions, and Neglect, P 128-145, 1988, Elam W Nunnally, et al, eds. -- See NCJ-113457)

• NCJ Number: 113459
• Author(s): J F Alexander; H B Waldron; A M Newberry; N Liddle
• Date Published: 1988
• Length: 18 pages
• Sale Source: Sage Publications, Inc
• Publication Type: Program/Project Description
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This paper describes two major family-based approaches proven effective in addressing delinquency: behavioral family therapy (BFT) and functional family therapy (FFT), with FFT receiving a detailed description.

Abstract

BFT has three primary components: parent training in family management skills, the development of therapist clinical skills required to minimize parental resistance, and a therapist support group. The FFT model integrates behavioral, systems, and cognitive intervention strategies. The five phases of intervention in the FFT model are introduction impression, assessment/understanding, induction/therapy, behavior change education, and generalization/termination. The introduction/impression phase concerns the clients' expectations prior to therapeutic interaction. The assessment phase involves an evaluation of the characteristics and needs of each family member as well as the fit between these individual characteristics in the family dynamics. The induction/therapy phase targets the motivational and attributional aspects of disturbed families, and the goal of the behavior change/education phase is to produce long-term behavioral change in the family. The goals of the generalization/termination phase are to maintain the changes previously achieved while producing independence from the therapist.