| Development
of the Strengthening Families Program (SFP) began in 1983 as a
three-year prevention research project funded by the National
Institute on Drug Addiction (NIDA). This project was conducted
in response to prior studies which documented that drug abusers
spent little time with their children and lacked parenting skills
(Sowder & Burt, 1987 a & b). Karol Kumpfer, Ph.D. former
director of the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP),
tailored the SFP to the unique risk factors found in substance-abusing
families. |
|
Multiple independent replications
of the SFP pilot have produced similar positive outcomes in
a variety of settings and with several racial and ethnic groups.
These include:
• Improved parenting
knowledge & skills;
• Improved parent/child relationships;
• Decreased depression in parents;
• Reduced family conflict;
• Increased family organization/cohesion;
• Decreased depression and conduct problems among children;
• Improved school success/grades;
• Reduced parental abuse of alcohol/drugs;
• Reduced use of alcohol/tobacco in children.
When
studied in other areas of the country, positive outcomes resulting
from the SFP have been maintained for five years (Harrison &
Proschauer, 1996).
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