Computer Assisted Culturally Informed Flexible Family Based Treatment for Adolescents: A randomized clinical trial for at-risk racial/ethnic minority adolescents

Abstract Family interventions have been shown to be effective for adolescents with behavior problems. Current literature supports both adaptive treatments and technology assisted interventions as highly promising innovations for treating at-risk adolescents. The purpose of this investigation was to develop and test the efficacy of a computer assisted version of an established office-based multi-component family therapy. Eighty Hispanic and Black Non-Hispanic adolescents and their families participated in the study and were randomized to either Immediate Computer Assisted CIFFTA or Delayed Computer Assisted CIFFTA. Significant between-groups effects were found from baseline to post-treatment showing the superiority of the Immediate CA CIFFTA condition on both the Conduct Disorder ( B = -5.17, SE = 1.73, p < .01, CI [=-8.55, -1.79]) and Socialized Aggression ( B = -2.04, SE = .83, p < .05, CI [-3.67, -.41]) subscales of the Revised Behavior Problem Checklist, on the Youth Self Report Externalizing scale ( B = -4.22, SE = 1.40, p < .01, CI [-6.95, -1.48]), and on both the parent ( B = 1.34, SE = .50, p < .01, CI [.36, 2.32]) and adolescent ( B = 1.31, SE = .46, p < .01, CI [.41, 2.21]) reports of the Family Environment Scale’s family cohesion subscale. Baseline to 6-weeks post treatment (T1-T3) analyses showed that these significant within-subjects effects were sustained for the treatment group. Results highlight that adolescent behavior problems can be significantly impacted by a computer assisted intervention that replaces psycho-educational face-to-face meetings with computer delivered modules.