A cluster analysis of the family dynamics in a family prevention programme for adolescents from vulnerable families

ABSTRACT

In social work with families, evidence-based programmes increase the chances of effective applications. Additionally, family prevention programmes are an excellent opportunity to bond with families and work effectively with them. The Family Competence Programme-AFECT 12–16 pursues the prevention of new risk behaviours in adolescents in the field of addictions and affective-sexual relationships, given the social changes that have occurred in adolescence in recent years. After the application of the programme with new contents and the incorporation of the motivational interview, an evaluation is carried out. This evaluation confirms three types of participating families. It is relevant to verify the effectiveness of the programme and that the different results of the families are not associated with family vulnerability or with the structure of the families. In conclusion, it should be noted that a preventive intervention of a selective type, aimed at families at risk, is effective after its content update, with the incorporation of new content related to addictive behaviours and affective-sexual relationships.

RESUMEN EN ESPAÑOL

En el trabajo social con familias, los programas basados en la evidencia científica garantizan aplicaciones efectivas. Además, los programas de prevención familiar son una excelente oportunidad para establecer un mayor vínculo con las familias y trabajar de manera eficaz con ellas. El Programa de Competencia Familiar-AFECT 12–16 persigue la prevención en los adolescentes de los nuevos comportamientos de riesgo en el ámbito de las adicciones y de las relaciones afectivo-sexuales, dados los cambios sociales acaecidos en la adolescencia en los últimos años. Después de la aplicación del programa con nuevos contenidos y la incorporación de la entrevista motivacional, se lleva a cabo una evaluación que constata tres tipologías de familias participantes en función de los resultados después de aplicar el programa. Es relevante constatar, además de la efectividad del programa, que los diferentes resultados de las familias no están asociados a la vulnerabilidad familiar ni tampoco a la estructura de las familias. En conclusión, cabe destacar que una intervención preventiva de tipo selectivo, orientada a familias en riesgo, presenta eficacia tras su actualización de contenidos, con la incorporación de nuevos contenidos relativos a los comportamientos adictivos y las relaciones afectivo-sexuales.

KEYWORDS:

• Family prevention
• research-supported interventions
• social work with families
• family support programme

PALABRAS CLAVE:

• prevención familiar
• práctica basada en la evidencia
• trabajo social con familias
• programa de apoyo familiar

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

Grant PID2019-105513RB-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI / 10.13039/501100011033

Notes on contributors

Carmen Orte

Carmen Orte BSc in Psychology and PhD in Educational Sciences at the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB). University Chair Professor at the UIB since 2006.

In 1998 she created the Open University for Seniors, (UOM, acronym in Spanish), an educational and social project, already consolidated for the adult population over 50 years of age in the Balearic Islands. Director of the Master's Degree in Socio-educational Intervention in Childhood, Adolescence and Family (MIS2). Director of the Master's Degree in Addictions (European Prevention Curriculum-Universal Treatment Curriculum). Principal Investigator of the Educational and Social Research and Training Group (GIFES). Director of the Family Research Laboratory (LIFAC, acronym in Spanish). Research leader of the evidence-based family education programme Family Competence Program (PCF), since 2004.

The main competitive research projects of the last twenty years are grouped around the Family Competence Program, a pioneering programme in Spain based on scientific evidence for family drug prevention and the promotion of parenting, communication and social skills in families. Since 2004, this research has received uninterrupted state funding in competitive calls, chaining six consecutive research projects from the Secretary of State for Research of the Government of Spain.

María Valero

María Valero PhD in Education by University of Balearic Islands (2019). Degree in Psychology (2011), Master of Psychological Intervention in clinical and social fields (2013), and Master in General Health Psychology (2018) by the University of Almeria. She is a member of the GIFES research team (Educational and Social Research and Training Group).

Research lines: family competences, evidence-based prevention programmes, prevention of drug use and other risk behaviours in childhood and adolescence, youth and development of prosocial behaviour.

Joan Amer

Joan Amer He is a full professor at the Department of Pedagogy and Specific Didactics of the University of the Balearic Islands. He holds a degree and PhD in Sociology from the Autonomous University of Barcelona and he is a member of the Educational and Social Research and Training Group (GIFES, http://gifes.uib.eu). His lines of research are family programmes based on evidence, social pedagogy and the sociology of education and the family. He was a MEC postdoctoral researcher at Lancaster University (United Kingdom) and has stays at the University of Amsterdam (Netherlands) and Arizona State University (United States). His recent publications include articles in the international journals European Journal of Social Work, British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, Families in Society or Journal of Children’s Services, among others.

Marga Vives

Margarita Vives has been working at the Universitat de les Illes Balears since 2007. Her lines of research focus on evidence-based family prevention programmes, educational gerontology, lifelong learning, conflict management, mediation, child and adolescent maladjustment, and intergenerational relationships. She is a member of the Educational and Social Research and Training Group (GIFES), through which different versions of the Strengthening Families Program in selective prevention have been culturally adapted, implemented, and evaluated (7- 12,12-16) and the version of universal prevention (11-14) in Spain; work carried out through different national and regional projects. The results of the implementations since 2005 have shown positive and significant results in their objectives, such as the improvement of communication and family climate, the parental competence, social skills and improvement in problem behaviours. The work during this decade has made it possible to verify the maintenance of these results in longitudinal studies and to carry out a process of continuous improvement in the different aspects of the programme, such as the training of trainers.