Multidimensional family therapy HIV/STD risk-reduction intervention: an integrative family-based model for drug-involved juvenile offenders.
Drug and juvenile justice involved youths show remarkably high rates of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/sexually transmitted disease (STD) risk behaviors. However, existing interventions aimed at reducing adolescent HIV risk behavior have rarely targeted these vulnerable young adolescents, and many approaches focus on individual-level change without attention to family or contextual influences. We describe a new, family-based HIV/ STD prevention model that embeds HIV/STD focused multifamily groups within an adolescent drug abuse and delinquency evidence-based treatment, Multidimensional Family Therapy (MDFT). The approach has been evaluated in a multisite randomized clinical trial with juvenile justice involved youths in the National Institute on Drug Abuse Criminal Justice Drug Abuse Treatment Studies (www.cjdats.org). Preliminary baseline to 6-month outcomes are promising. We describe research on family risk and protective factors for adolescent problem behaviors, and offer a rationale for family-based approaches to reduce HIV/STD risk in this population. We describe the development and implementation of the Multidimensional Family Therapy HIV/STD risk-reduction intervention (MDFT-HIV/ STD) in terms of using multifamily groups and their integration in standard MDFT and also offers a clinical vignette. The potential significance of this empirically based intervention development work is high; MDFT-HIV/STD is the first model to address largely unmet HIV/STD prevention and sexual health needs of substance abusing juvenile offenders within the context of a family-oriented evidence-based intervention.
Marvel
Francoise
F
Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Center for Treatment Research on Adolescent Drug Abuse, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, 1120 NW 14th Street Stc. 1019, Miami, FL 33136, USA.
Rowe
Cynthia L
CL
Colon-Perez
Lissette
L
DiClemente
Ralph J
RJ
Liddle
Howard A
HA
D000293:Adolescent; D055317:Evidence-Based Practice; D005196:Family Therapy / Q000379:methods* / Q000458:organization & administration; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D007604:Juvenile Delinquency; D008297:Male; D040242:Risk Reduction Behavior; D012749:Sexually Transmitted Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control*; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders