Saturday, 15 January 2005 - 10:00 AM

This presentation is part of: Services for High-Risk Families

Looking Inside the Black Box of Intensive Family Preservation Services: "Testing the Feasibility of Clinical Data-Mining"

Intensive family preservation services (IFPS) were designed to stabilize at-risk families and avert out-of-home care. These home-based services are targeted to families at imminent risk of child placement. IFPS services have been the focus of many prospective, randomized, experimental studies to determine the effectiveness of programs with regard to placement prevention (Pecora, Whittaker and Maluccio, 1992). As a result of the emphasis on "gold-standard" methodologies (Epstein, 2001), few "black box" (Bickman, 1987) studies have been conducted to shed light on specific services and combinations of services that are provided to at-risk families and how they are related to various treatment outcomes. This study is based upon evidence derived from a single, highly-regarded IFPS agency. Families First was selected as the research site for this study as it is representative of using “best practices” for family preservation and child welfare intervention. Employing a retrospective "clinical data-mining" (CDM) methodology (Epstein and Blumenfield, 2001) the study makes use of available information extracted from IFPS client records. The study had several objectives: 1) to specify more precisely IFPS practice by describing services and combinations of services families actually received; 2) to determine relationships between family and client characteristics, interventions received and placement prevention; 3) to test the feasibility of the CDM methodology by comparing study findings with those derived from previously published experimental studies. Qualitative case information was extracted, coded according to pre-existing conceptualizations of services, and transformed into a quantitative SPSS data-base along with demographic, referral information, psychosocial assessment and service outcomes. Univariate, bivariate and multivariate data analysis was conducted. Findings confirm the use of a range of IFPS services consistent with IFPS program theory. With regard to service outcomes, findings suggest that family education and advocacy are most influential in placement prevention. More specifically, IFPS services prevented placement for multi-problem families, those where children had an emotional disturbance, those where children presented unmanageable behavior at home and at school, where domestic violence was an issue, and in promoting the reunification of children and families. Additionly, it was found that family violence significantly decreased following services. A more complex understanding of IFPS interventions and outcomes than is possible through experimental studies will assist in articulating clearer linkages between family preservation theory and practice, as well as social work education.

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