Support4Families: A Proposed Intervention Model to Support Families of Individuals Returning Home From Incarceration

Leaving incarceration and returning home (i.e., reentry) affects individuals and their families; 90% of individuals releasing from prison rely on family for critical reentry supports. Although positive family support during this period is empirically linked to an individual’s success, providing support can place a substantial emotional, social, and fiscal toll on family units. Without intervention, positive family support may deteriorate or become negative. This article presents the theoretical and empirical grounding for creating family-focused reentry interventions which target the family members of individuals leaving incarceration to improve the outcomes of both the re-entering individual and the family unit. This article then proposes a family skills training intervention Support4Families, and describes the evidence-driven intervention components of Support4Families. The intervention was developed using preliminary social support research and feedback from family members of formerly incarcerated individuals. Current testing and future research agenda of family support interventions in reentry are also explored.

Strong Families: A new family skills training programme for challenged and humanitarian settings: a single-arm intervention tested in Afghanistan

Background Children living in challenged humanitarian settings are at greater risk of mental health difficulties or behavioural problems, with caregivers acting as their main protective factors. While many family skills programmes exist, very few were developed for or piloted in families living in low resource settings. We therefore designed a brief and light programme and conducted an effectiveness trial in Afghanistan. Methods We recruited female caregivers and children aged 8-12 years via schools and drug treatment centres in Afghanistan and enrolled them in a family skills programme over three weeks. Demographic data, emotional and behavioural difficulties of children and parental skills and family adjustment measures were collected from caregivers before, two and six weeks after the intervention. Outcome was assessed through the SDQ (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire) and PAFAS (Parenting and Family Adjustment Scales). Results We enrolled 72 families in the programme and followed 93·1% up overall. Mean age of caregivers was 36·1 years, they had 3·8 children on average and 91·7% of them had experienced war/armed conflict in their past. The total difficulty score of the SDQ of the 72 children reduced significantly, from 17.8 at pre-test to 12.9 at post-test and 10.6 at follow-up, with no difference in gender and mostly in those with highest scores at baseline. Likewise, PAFAS scores improved significantly after the programme, again with caregivers with the highest scores at baseline improving most. Conclusions The implementation of a brief family skills programme was feasible in a resource-limited setting and had an impact on child mental health and parenting practices and family adjustment skills. This indicated the value of such programme and the feasibility to move it to scale. The effects need to be verified through an RCT and with longer follow-ups.

Family skills training in dialectical behaviour therapy: The experience of the significant others

IntroductionBorderline personality disorder (BPD) is a severe psychiatric health problem with reputation of being difficult to deal with and to treat. Significant others (SOs) of patients with BPD show higher levels of psychological distress compared with the general population. Strengthening the coping strategies of SOs plays an important role in the recovery of the patient. Support and education for SOs is important, both for SOs themselves and for the patients recovery.ObjectivesResearch around support and education for SOs is of great importance not only for SOs and patients, but also for psychiatric staff, in order to offer help and support, for the whole family.AimThe aim was to describe significant others’ experiences of dialectical behaviour therapy-family skills training (DBT-FST), their life situation before and after DBT-FST, and measurement of their levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms.MethodsThe study had a descriptive mixed method design. Data were collected with free text questionnaires (n = 44), group interviews (n = 53) and the HAD scale (n = 52) and analysed by qualitative content analysis and descriptive and inferential statistics.ResultsThe results show that life before DBT-FST was a struggle. DBT-FST gave hope for the future and provided strategies, helpful in daily life. For the subgroup without symptoms of anxiety and depression before DBT-FST, anxiety increased significantly. For the subgroup with symptoms of anxiety and depression the symptoms decreased significantly. This indicates, despite increased anxiety for one group, that DBT-FST is a beneficial intervention and most beneficial for those with the highest anxiety and depressive symptoms.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.