NCJ Number
235159
Journal
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology Volume: 55 Issue: 4 Dated: June 2011 Pages: 587-604
Date Published
June 2011
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This study evaluated the Detention to Community (DTC) Multidimensional Family Therapy (MDFT) treatment for young offenders.
Abstract
Responding to urgent calls for effective interventions to address young offenders' multiple and interconnected problems, a new variant of an existing empirically-validated intervention for drug-using adolescents, Multidimensional Family Therapy (MDFT)Detention to Community (DTC) was tested in a two-site controlled trial. This article (a) outlines the rationale and protocol basics of the MDFT-DTC intervention, a program for substance-using juvenile offenders that links justice and substance abuse treatment systems to facilitate adolescents' postdetention community reintegration; (b) presents implementation outcomes, including fidelity, treatment engagement and retention rates, amount of services received, treatment satisfaction, and substance abusejuvenile justice system collaboration outcomes; and (c) details the implementation and sustainability challenges in a cross-system (substance abuse treatment and juvenile justice) adolescent intervention. Findings support the effectiveness of the MDFT-DTC intervention, and the need to develop a full implementation model in which transfer and dissemination issues could be explored more fully, and tested experimentally. (Published Abstract)