Cultural-adaptations for Chinese families of an evidence-based child abuse and substance abuse prevention program: The Strengthening Families Program

This presentation will discuss the importance of family-focused interventions for reducing child maltreatment. Research will be discussed on the most critical components to include in any effective parenting or family strengthening program based on CDC's core components and CSAP's data. A review will be presented on the four most effective family strengthening approaches and major EBPs. The major steps in developing cultural adaptations of EBPs (Kumpfer, et al., 2008) will be illustrated using research on the author's Strengthening Families Program (SFP). SFP was the first EBP family skills training program developed on NIDA and NIAAA RCT grants for children of substance abusers and the only program with positive outcomes for both the parents and the children. We will end with a review of how these cultural adaptation steps will be used to create SFP version specifically for immigrant Chinese families of 3 to 11 year olds in Salt Lake City and Santa Clara, California. Results of a needs assessment survey of Chinese families will be presented including parenting and child problems and effective ways to engage and retain the families. Ideas for maintaining fidelity and quality while tailoring the program will be discussed. Outcomes of SFP for child abuse prevention will be presented as well as SFP for Asian families compared to non-Asian families.