NCJ Number
191903
Journal
Journal of Offender Rehabilitation Volume: 33 Issue: 1 Dated: 2001 Pages: 59-109
Date Published
2001
Length
51 pages
Annotation
This paper reports on the results of a study of the long-term impact of a Family Empowerment Intervention (FEI) on the psychosocial functioning of youths processed at the Hillsborough County Juvenile Assessment Center (Florida) who entered the project between September 1, 1994, and January 31, 1998.
Abstract
The FEI aims to improve family functioning by empowering parents to engage in positive interactions with their children. Families involved in the project were randomly assigned to either receive an Extended Services Intervention (ESI) or the FEI. Families in the ESI group received monthly phone contacts and, if indicated, referral information. FEI families received three 1-hour home-based meetings per week from a clinician-trained paraprofessional. The results provide support for the sustained effect of FEI services. Youths who completed the FEI had significantly lower reported rates of getting very high or drunk on alcohol, crimes against persons, drug sales, and total delinquency than youths not completing the FEI. These results took into account group differences on a wide variety of demographic, psychosocial, offense history, and abuse-neglect history variables. These findings parallel the results of a study of the long-term impact of the FEI on the youths' recidivism. The authors suggest that the strength of the sustained effect of the intervention could have been enhanced by periodic "booster" sessions designed to support targeted youths and family maintenance of intervention gains. 23 tables, 4 figures, 51 references, and appended supplementary data