This document was printed from the website of the California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare (CEBC), which you can access at http://www.cebc4cw.org/
This document was printed from the website of the California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare (CEBC), which you can access at http://www.cebc4cw.org/
Child Welfare Outcomes: Child/family well-being
Type of Maltreatment: Not specified
Target Population: Adolescents 11 – 18 with the following symptoms or problems: substance abuse or at risk, delinquent/conduct disorder, school and other behavioral problems, and both internalizing and externalizing symptoms.
Brief Description:(The information in this program outline is provided by the program representative and edited by the CEBC staff.)
Multidimensional Family Therapy (MDFT) has been rated by the CEBC in the area of Substance Abuse Treatment (Adolescent). MDFT is a family-based treatment system for adolescent substance use, delinquency, and related behavioral and emotional problems. Therapists work simultaneously in four interdependent domains: the adolescent, parent, family, and extra-familial. Once a therapeutic alliance is established and youth and parent motivation is enhanced, the MDFT therapist focuses on facilitating behavioral and interactional change. In the adolescent domain, adolescents are helped to develop coping, emotion regulation, and problem solving skills; improve social competence; and establish alternatives to substance use and delinquency. In the parent domain, the focus is on enhancing parental teamwork and improving parenting practices. Decreasing family conflict, deepening emotional attachments, and improving family communication and problem solving skills are the key goals within the family domain. In the extrafamilial domain, MDFT fosters family competency in interactions with social systems (e.g., justice, educational, social welfare). The final stage of MDFT works to solidify behavioral and relational changes and launch the family successfully so that treatment gains are maintained. Since MDFT is highly rated on the Scientific Rating Scale, information on available pre-implementation assessments, implementation tools, and fidelity measures was requested from the program representative. Please see the program's separate Implementation Information page for details.
Contact name: Gayle A. Dakof, PhD
Affiliation/Agency: MDFT International, Inc.
Email: gdakof@mdftinternational.com
Phone: 786-999-3158
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