STAGE 5. Defining the action plan

What steps should be completed?

Step 1: Specify intervention actions

EVIDENCE FOR FAMILY-CENTRED THERAPIES

Family involvement is a major component of interventions in adolescents and young people.¹ Generally speaking, family-based treatments address drug abuse in adolescents effectively.² They increase commitment by patients and their families, improve adherence to treatment, reduce drug use after treatment, improve family functioning and help normalisation and social inclusion.²

Family-based therapies also improve retention in methadone dispensation programmes, especially in patients with the worst initial prognosis.²

Brief strategic family therapy

This type of therapy favours family commitment to actively participate in the process of treating the adolescent’s addictive behaviours and can produce sustained improvements in family dynamics.² It is especially suitable for highly dysfunctional families and, when applied to a single member of the family nucleus, it can be as effective as when the whole family is included in the therapy, provided that family structure is the target of the intervention.²

Multidimensional family therapy

Multidimensional family therapy is a family-centred outpatient treatment aimed primarily at adolescents with alcohol and other drug abuse problems.¹ This type of therapy is more effective than peer group therapy in reducing risks and promoting protection processes in the individual, family, school and peer group, as well as reducing drug use during treatment.²

Multisystem family therapy

This type of therapy significantly reduces drug use in adolescents during treatment and for at least six months after.

 

References:

1 National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). (2010). Principles of drug addiction treatment: a research-based guide. Washington: National Institute on Drug Abuse.

2 Becoña E & Cortés MT. (2011). Manual de adicciones para psicólogos especialistas en psicología clínica en formación [Manual of addictions for psychologists in training specialising in clinical psychology]. Barcelona: Socidrogalcohol.