An experimental intervention with families of substance abusers: one-year follow-up of the focus on families project.

AIMS: Children whose parents abuse drugs are exposed to numerous factors that increase the likelihood of future drug abuse. Despite this heightened risk, few experimental tests of prevention programs with this population have been reported. This article examines whether intensive family-focused interventions with methadone treated parents can reduce parents' drug use and prevent children's initiation of drug use.

DESIGN: Parents were assigned randomly into intervention and control conditions and assessed at baseline, post-test, and 6 and 12 months following the intervention. Children were assessed at baseline, and 6- and 12-month follow-up points.

SETTING: Two methadone clinics in Seattle, Washington.

PARTICIPANTS: One hundred and forty-four methadone-treated parents, and their children (n = 178) ranging in age from 3 to 14 years old.

INTERVENTION: The experimental intervention supplemented methadone treatment with 33 sessions of family training combined with 9 months of home-based case management. Families in the control condition received no supplemental services.

MEASUREMENT: Parent measures included: relapse and problem-solving skills, self-report measures of family management practices, deviant peer networks, domestic conflict and drug use. Child measures included self-report measures of rules, family attachment, parental involvement, school attachment and misbehavior, negative peers, substance use and delinquency.

FINDINGS: One year after the family skills training, results indicate significant positive changes among parents, especially in the areas of parent skills, parent drug use, deviant peers and family management. Few changes were noted in children's behavior or attitudes.

CONCLUSIONS: Programs such as this may be an important adjunct to treatment programs, helping to strengthen family bonding and to reduce parents' drug use.