Preventing Child Behavior Problems and Substance Use: The Pathways Home Foster Care Reunification Intervention

Abstract

This study evaluated the Pathways Home manualized selective preventive intervention that was designed to prevent reunification failures once children are returned home to their biological parent(s) after first-time stays in foster care (N = 101). The theoretically-based intervention focused on support and parent management practices designed to prevent the development of child behavior problems, including internalizing and externalizing problems and also substance use. Intent-to-treat analyses employed probability growth curve approaches for repeated telephone assessments over 16 weeks of intervention. Findings showed that relative to “services as usual” reunification families, the Pathways Home families demonstrated better parenting strategies that were, in turn, associated with reductions in problem behaviors over time. Growth in problem behaviors predicted foster care reentry. Maternal substance use cravings were a risk factor for growth in problem behaviors; this risk was buffered by participation in the Pathways Home intervention.

KEYWORDS:

• foster care
• parenting
• prevention
• reunification
• substance use

Acknowledgments

The project described was supported by Award Nos. P20 DA17592, Division of Epidemiology, Services and Prevention Branch, NIDA, NIH, U.S. PHS, and P30 DA023920, Division of Epidemiology, Services and Prevention Research, Prevention Research Branch, NIDA, NIH, U.S. PHS. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute on Drug Abuse or the National Institutes of Health.

Notes

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