Purpose: Family support programs commonly use self-sufficiency matrices (SSMs) to measure family outcomes, however, validation research on SSMs is sparse. This study examined the reliability of the Colorado Family Support Assessment 2.0 (CFSA 2.0) to measure family self-reliance across 14 domains (e.g., employment). Methods: Ten written case…

Objective: This study examined the efficacy of the Parent and Child Enhancement (PACE) program on child learning, child behavior problems, and parental stress, using randomized controlled trial design, in social services centers. Methods: Eligibility criteria were (1) children aged 2 years at program commencement, (2) low-income, new immigrant, or…

Traditional approaches to disseminating research based programs and innovations for children and families, which rely on practitioners and policy makers to make sense of research on their own, have been found insufficient. There is growing interest in strategies that "make it happen" by actively building the capacity of service providers…

Objectives: To estimate the impacts of Sweden's Contact Family/Person Program (CFPP) for older children on participants' long-term outcomes related to mental health problems, illicit drug use, public welfare receipt, placement in out-of-home care, educational achievement, and offending. Method: We analyzed longitudinal register data on more than…

This article presents propensity score matching as a method to implement randomized conditions to analyze service effects using nonexperimental data. Most social work research is challenged to implement randomized clinical trials, whereas administrative and survey data are often available and can provide valuable information about services…