Family Check-Up for Adolescents and Siblings
Condition: Alcohol Abuse
MeSH terms: Alcoholism
Study type: Interventional
Phase: Phase 1

Summary: 
      A two group randomized design will be used to test the primary hypothesis that the
      experimental intervention will reduce alcohol consumption and alcohol-related negative
      consequences significantly more than a comparison family-based psychoeducation condition in
      both an identified alcohol-using adolescent (12- 18 years old) and his/her teenage sibling
      (the sibling can be 3 years older or younger than teen with the sibling's age between 12-21
      years old). The experimental condition consists of the Family Check-up, while the comparison
      condition is a less intense parenting psychoeducation program. Time points will include
      follow-ups at 3, 6, and 12 months.
    

Detailed description: 
      A total of 175 adolescents, 12 to 18 years old, will be drawn from multiple sites to compare
      the experimental condition, The Family Check Up(FCU; Dishion & Kavanagh, 2003) to a
      family-based psychoeducational program.

      The Family Check-Up is a selective intervention program that focuses on parents. Its goal is
      to provide individualized feedback to motivate parents to make improvements in their
      parenting practices. A unique strength of the FCU is that feedback is individualized and
      tailored to specific parenting skills as they typically pertain to an identified adolescent
      in the family. We propose to evaluate the efficacy of the FCU when applied to both an
      adolescent identified patient (IP) and a sibling close in age. Our rationale for including a
      sibling close in age derives from a strong empirical base which has shown that: 1) sibling
      resemblance for alcohol use is high and environmental factors shared by siblings account for
      substantial portions of variance in adolescent alcohol use; and 2) specific interactional
      dynamics of the sibling relationship (collusion) are related to teen alcohol use. Dr. Dishion
      has found that in high-risk families, sibling collusion accounts for variance in problem
      behavior after controlling for involvement with deviant peers. This connection between
      ineffective parenting strategies and sibling relationship dynamics in combination creates
      increased risk for alcohol use by siblings close in age. This notion serves as a foundation
      to examine the efficacy of a sibling-enhanced FCU intervention with respect to: 1)
      improvement in parental communication and monitoring; 2) reduction of sibling interactive
      behaviors that are associated with alcohol use; and 3) reduction of alcohol use in IP
      adolescents as well as siblings who are currently using alcohol. We will test specified
      mediators of FCU efficacy in reducing levels of alcohol use at both the parenting level and
      at the level of sibling dynamics. In order to determine whether other types of family-based
      interventions might be just as helpful as the more intensive FCU, efficacy of the
      sibling-enhanced FCU will be compared to a parenting psychoeducational program.
    

Intervention name(s): Family Check Up; Psychoeducation
Intervention type(s): Behavioral; Behavioral
Intervention description(s): The Family Check-Up provides a thorough assessment of individual family strengths and weaknesses and utilizes principles of motivational interviewing to encourage families to change.; Psychoeducation regarding teen alcohol and drug use in general, along with ways parents can help their children stay safe from using alcohol or drugs.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Treatment
Keywords: Alcohol; Substance Abuse; Adolescent; Family functioning