title: A family outreach intervention for engaging young out-of-treatment drug users: pre- versus post-treatment comparison.
abstract: Only a small fraction of drug users worldwide enter treatment each year. We evaluated the efficacy of a systemic family outreach intervention (SFOI) for young, untreated drug users, using a quasi-experimental design in which the experimental group (EG) received SFOI and the control group (CG) received traditional outreach work (OW). Both pre- and post-treatment, we administered the Addiction Severity Index-6 (ASI-6), the Family Environment Scale (FES), and tests of parental practices and risky behavior. Post-treatment, there was a fivefold improvement on the ASI-6 and a significant worsening on the conflict sub-scale of the FES in the EG as compared with the CG. SFOI was more efficacious than OW in reducing drug use in the drug user's home environment. The increased conflict in the EG might be explained by parents' increased awareness of abnormal behaviors and implementation of strategies to protect their children.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Av. Camino El Alba 12351, Las Condes, 7620002 Santiago, Chile. rsantis@med.puc.cl
authors.forename: Rodrigo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Santis
authors.forename: Carmen Gloria
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Hidalgo
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jaramillo
authors.forename: Viviana
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Hayden
authors.forename: Ivan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Armijo
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lasagna
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D005190:Family; D005196:Family Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006798:Housing; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult