Prosocial family therapy: A manualized preventive intervention for juvenile offenders

This manual for Prosocial Family Therapy (PFT) describes a practical method of multisystemic care for juvenile offenders based on our theories about risk and protection factors and therapy process. The PFT team integrates specific parent training techniques and nonspecific family therapy strategies in meetings scheduled with decreasing frequency over a 3-month intervention and 2-year follow-up period. The PFT manual blends scientific and clinical concerns via checks on manual adherence, treatment integrity, and internal validity. PFT can be used by MA-level therapists in community or residential settings run by courts, schools, or mental-health agencies. Our short-term intervention goal is rapid, lasting reduction of youths' community, home, and coping problems (e.g., police arrest, curfew violation, substance abuse, and suicide attempts). Our long-term prevention goal includes fewer crimes and bad life outcomes (e.g., school dropout, teen parenthood, welfare dependence) and more family-wide prosocial coping—helping self without harming others. We discuss why family preservation is not our ultimate goal and why acceptance of reality is a prerequisite for behavior change.