Family Matters (OJJDP Model Program Guide)

Office of Justice Programs, Innovation - Partnerships – Safer Neighborhoods

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) Serving Children, Families and Communities

PREVENTION

IMMEDIATE SANCTIONS

INTERMEDIATE SANCTIONS

RESIDENTIAL

REENTRY

MPG HOME SEARCH HOME SEARCH ENTIRE PROGRAM DATABASE SEARCH USING RISK & PROTECTIVE FACTORS PROGRAM TYPES RATING SYSTEM REFERENCES NOMINATE PROGRAMS RELATED LINKS RESOURCES DMC-REDUCTION BEST PRACTICES DATABASE DSO BEST PRACTICES DATABASE

Family Matters

Intervention:

Family Matters is a family-directed program that reduces tobacco and alcohol use among 12- to 14-year-olds. The intervention is delivered through four booklets mailed to the home and through follow-up telephone calls by health educators. The booklets contain lessons and activities designed to motivate families to participate in the program and encourage families to consider characteristics related to adolescent substance use. Booklet content includes communication skills, parenting styles, attachment and time together, educational encouragement, conflict resolution, availability of tobacco and alcohol in the home, family rules about child use of tobacco and alcohol, and insights into peer and media influences.

Four booklets are successively mailed home to parents, along with token participation incentives of a Family Matters–imprinted pencil, button, balloon, or magnet. After each mailing, health educators phone parents to encourage them to complete the book and any included parent–child activities, and to answer questions. Each booklet contains information based on behavioral science theory and research and includes participant activities. The booklets, in order of delivery, are

Why Families Matter, which describes the program and encourages participation.
Helping Families Matter to Teens. This considers general family factors such as communication skills and parenting styles, which influence adolescent alcohol and tobacco use.
Alcohol and Tobacco Rules Are Family Matters emphasizes behavior-specific factors that families can influence, including the availability of tobacco and alcohol in the home and family rules about child substance use.
Nonfamily Influences That Matter deals with nonfamily influences on adolescent substance use, such as friends who use and the media. It also reviews the main points of the program.

The adolescent’s mother or mother surrogate usually is the program contact. She is asked to participate in the program and to involve additional adult family members. Adult family members are asked, in addition to reading the booklet, to complete activities with the adolescent that exercise key program content areas such as communication skills and rule setting. Some of the reading material and activities are for adult family members only, while other parts of the program are for the adult family members and the adolescent. The health educators who conduct follow-up calls after each booklet is completed never interact directly with the adolescent as part of program delivery. Health educators can be culled from within the implementing organization or surrounding community (school nurses, teachers, college students, business professionals are all candidates). Health care educators can be paid staff or volunteers.

Evaluation Methodology:

Study 1
Bauman and colleagues (2002) evaluated Family Matters using a randomized experimental design to assess prevalence of cigarette and alcohol use. At baseline, parent–child pairs (with the child always 12 to 14) were selected throughout the United States by random-digit dialing and then interviewed by telephone. Initially, 64,811 phone numbers were selected to represent all residential phone numbers in the contiguous United States, of which 2,395 were estimated to be in households with both an eligible adolescent and parent. A total of 1,326, or 55.4 percent, of the pairs completed the 15-minute baseline telephone interview. Ultimately, 1,316 subjects made up the final sample, as 9 asked to be withdrawn and 1 was lost to follow-up. The adolescents–parent pairs were then randomly allocated either to receive Family Matters or to serve as controls. The Family Matters intervention group received successive mailings of four booklets to the home, followed by phone contact of a health educator to encourage participation of all family members in the activities outlined in the booklets.

Of the 1,198 pairs eligible for Family Matters, 549 (45.8 percent) began the program, and 407 (34.0 percent) completed it. At 3- and 12-month points after the program was completed, follow-up telephone calls were made for a follow-up interview. Of the 1,216 subjects, 1,135 (93.3 percent) completed either the first or second follow-up interview, and l,014 (83.4 percent) completed both phone interviews.

Adolescent drinking was determined by the question, “How much alcohol have you ever had in your life?” Smoking was determined by the question, “How much have you ever smoked cigarettes in your life?” Use of smokeless tobacco was determined by a similar self-report response. Generalized estimating equation methods were used to analyze program effects for adolescents who completed one or both of the follow-up interviews. Only responses of adolescents classified at baseline as nonusers of each substance were used in the analysis for that substance.

Attrition of families from the follow-up interviews and from completion of the Family Matters program may limit generalizability and internal validity. Additionally, reliance on telephone interviews for data collection could have affected some adolescents’ responses.

Evaluation Outcome:

Study 1
Substance Use
Bauman and colleagues (2002) reported statistically significant program effects for smoking and drinking and suggest that Family Matters reduced the prevalence of both behaviors. The effect sizes at 3 and 12 months after the program were modest (0.19 and 0.17 for smoking at 3 and 12 months, respectively, and 0.32 and 0.17 for alcohol use at 3 and 12 months, respectively). The authors indicate these results compare favorably with the average effect sizes found for the most effective school-based drug curricula studies with randomized experimental designs.

Other Information:

Required Materials: The four booklets and the Health Educators Manual, which include health educator protocols for each unit, are available at http://www.sph.unc.edu/familymatters/index.htm

Costs: Bauman and colleagues (2001) conducted a cost analysis with 658 families and found the average cost to implement Family Matters was $140.42 per case. This included personnel, materials for mailings and telephone calls, long distance telephone calls, postage, office supplies, and equipment.

References:

Bauman, Karl E., Susan T. Ennett, Vangie A. Foshee, Michael R. Pemberton, Tonya S. King, and Gary G. Koch. 2002. “Influence of a Family Program on Adolescent Smoking and Drinking Prevalence.” Prevention Science 3(1):35–42.

Bauman, Karl E., Susan T. Ennett, Vangie Ann Foshee, Michael R. Pemberton, and Katherine A. Hicks. 2001. “Correlates of Participation in a Family-Directed Tobacco and Alcohol Prevention Program for Adolescents.” Health Education and Behavior 28(4):440–61.

Bauman Karl E., Susan T. Ennett, Vangie Ann Foshee, Michael R. Pemberton, Tonya S. King, and Gary G. Koch. 2000. “Influence of a Family-Directed Program on Adolescent Cigarette and Alcohol Cessation.” Prevention Science 1(4):227–37.

———. 2002. “Influence of a Family Program on Adolescent Smoking and Drinking Prevalence.” Prevention Science 3:35–42.

Bauman, Karl E., Vangie Ann Foshee, Susan T. Ennett, Katherine A. Hicks, and Michael R. Pemberton. 2001. “Family Matters: A Family-Directed Program Designed to Prevent Adolescent Tobacco and Alcohol Use.” Health Promotion Practice 2(1):81–96.

Bauman, Karl E., Vangie Ann Foshee, Susan T. Ennett, Michael R. Pemberton, Katherine A. Hicks, Tonya S. King, and Gary G. Koch. 2001. “Influence of a Family Program on Adolescent Tobacco and Alcohol Use.” American Journal of Public Health 91(4):604–10.

Ennett, Susan T., Karl E. Bauman, Vangie Ann Foshee, Michael R. Pemberton, and Katherine A. Hicks. 2001. “Parent–Child Communication About Adolescent Tobacco and Alcohol Use: What Do Parents Say and Does It Affect Youth Behavior?” Journal of Marriage and the Family 63:48–62.

Ennett, Susan T., Karl E. Bauman, Michael R. Pemberton, Vangie Ann Foshee, Ying–Chih Chuang, Tonya S. King, and Gary G. Koch. 2001. “Mediation in a Family-Directed Program for Prevention of Adolescent Tobacco and Alcohol Use.” Preventive Medicine 33(4):333–46.

Family Matters. 2002. “Home.” Accessed June 1, 2011. http://www.sph.unc.edu/familymatters/introduction.htm

Program Specification:

New Rating:

Effective

Re-reviewed Date:

June 2011

Program Type:

Alcohol and Drug Therapy / Education

Ethnicity:

American Indian or Alaska Native

Asian

African American

Hispanic or Latino (of any race)

White

Gender:

Both

Age:

12 - 14

Target Settings:

Rural

Suburban

Urban

Problem Behaviors:

Alcohol,Tobacco and Other Drug Use

Risk & Protective Factors:

Risk

Community

Availability of alcohol and other drugs

Family

Family history of problem behavior / Parent criminality

Family management problems / Poor parental supervision and/or monitoring

Parental use of physical punishment / Harsh and/or erratic discipline practices

Pattern of high family conflict

Poor family attachment / Bonding

Individual

Favorable attitudes toward drug use/Early onset of AOD use/Alcohol and/or drug use

Poor refusal skills

Peer

Association with delinquent and/or aggressive peers

Peer alcohol, tobacco, and/or other drug use

School

Low academic achievement

Protective

Family

Effective parenting

Good relationship with parents / Bonding or attachment to family

High family expectations

Opportunities for prosocial family involvement

Rewards for prosocial family involvement

Individual

Healthy / Conventional beliefs and clear standards

High individual expectations

Perception of social support from adults and peers

Self-efficacy

Social competencies and problem solving skills

Peer

Good relationships with peers

Involvement with positive peer group activities

Parental approval of friends

School

Above average academic achievment / Reading and math skills

Additional Information:

SAMHSA: NREPP

Status:

Program is in operation at this time.

Contact Information:

Program Developer:
Karl E. Bauman, Ph.D.
116 Nolen Lane
Chapel Hill, NC 27516
Email: Click Here
Website: Click Here

Training & TA Provider:
Karl E. Bauman, Ph.D.
116 Nolen Lane
Chapel Hill, NC 27516
Email: Click Here
Website: Click Here