Family Connections (FC)
Problems addressed
Recidivism
Drug abuse
Externalizing behaviors/problems
Alcohol abuse
Effectiveness

Promising

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Promising

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Life periods served
Children (4 to 13 years)
Where the program was applied
Education establishment
Country of application
United States
Description

This is a school program for elementary school children to prevent the development of aggressive and antisocial behaviors.
The program offers a set of actions developed over ten weeks, with 20 sessions lasting one hour each and covering, for example, classroom instruction and discussion of specific skills for solving individual and social problems; practice of skills in small and large groups; free and cooperative games; review and presentation of journals; and training for parents.

Impact evaluations

Impact evaluation studies show that the program produced a long-term reduction in physical aggression and a delayed onset of substance use [1] [2]. The study had a randomized experimental design with a sample of 671 first- to fifth-grade students from 12 schools in high-crime areas in the Springfield region, involving families and teachers [2].

Bibliographic reference

[1] Reid, J. B., Eddy, J. M, Fetrow, R. A. & Stoolmiller, M. (1999). Description and immediate impacts of a preventive intervention for conduct problems. American Journal of Community Psychology, 27(4), 483–517. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022181111368

[2] DeGarmo, D. S., Eddy, J. M., Reid, J. B. & Fetrow, R. A. (2009). Evaluating mediators of the impact of the Linking the Interests of Families and Teachers (LIFT) multimodal preventive intervention on substance use initiation and growth across adolescence. Prevention Science: The Official Journal of the Society for Prevention Research, 10(3), 208–220. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-009-0126-0

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