ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews systematic research and meta-analytic reports published since 2003. It examines issues in the dissemination of evidence-based family therapy programs and identifies existing or yet-to-come strategies that may promote research utilization in everyday practice. Family-based treatments are broader than traditional family therapy interventions and include parenting programs. In most studies, the family-focused interventions and programs involved the family, the parents, or a combination of the parents, the youth, and the family at different time points over the course of treatment. The chapter describes the evidence that has accumulated regarding the positive outcomes of specific family-focused treatments relative to alternative therapies advances in the adaptation of empirically supported systemic interventions for mood disorders, anxiety, eating disorders, and chronic illness. Family therapy science has evolved from a focus on the efficacy and effectiveness of the broad modality of family therapy to the study of specific interventions and treatment models and the mechanisms that produce positive outcomes in “real-life” clinical settings.
