Familias Unidas

Featured Grant OpportunitySchool Emergency Response to Violence (Project SERV) (Funding Opportunity) 

Featured Grant OpportunityShare with Youth: NOAA Student Opportunities Database

Developers

Dr. Hila Pantin and Dr. Guillermo Prado

Program Summary

The Familias Unidas program is a family-focused intervention designed to prevent and reduce substance abuse and unsafe sexual behaviors among Latino adolescents through the improvement of family functioning. Two versions of the program have been evaluated. The original 12-week program was evaluated with 12-17 year old Hispanic youth and their primary caregivers. A compressed, six-week version was also tested with ninth-grade Latino students and their primary caregivers, and shows evidence of effectiveness.

Intended Population

Familias Unidas is designed for Latino youth and their families. It has been evaluated with both 12-17 year old youth (full version), and ninth-grade Latino students (abbreviated version). The study of the abbreviated version with ninth grade Latino students showed positive impacts.

Program Setting

Familias Unidas can be implemented in any setting and has been delivered in community-based organizations and school settings in the United States and Latin America. The program has been evaluated in community-based settings in Miami.

Contact and Availability Information

Yannine Estrada
University of Miami
1120 NW 14th St., Suite 1016
Miami, FL 33136
yestrada@med.miami.edu
www.familias-unidas.info

See above.

Sample of curriculum available for review prior to purchase

Unknown

Adaptation guidelines or kit available

Unknown

Languages available

Spanish

Program Core Components

Category	Component	Core Component	Component present	Notes	Lesson number(s) / activities where present
Content	School engagement		No
Content	Anatomy/physiology	No	No
Content	Other	Yes	Yes (both versions)	Parental investment, parental school involvement, prevention as something that continues	6
Content	Volunteering/civic engagement		No
Content	Spirituality		No
Content	Morals/values		No
Content	Identity development		No
Content	Social support/capital		No
Content	Social influence/actual vs. perceived social norms		No
Content	Social competence		No
Content	Parenting skills		Yes (both versions)		3
Content	Normative beliefs		No
Content	Leadership		No
Content	Gender roles		No
Content	Gender identity		No
Content	Cultural values	Yes	Yes (both versions)		1
Content	Connections with trusted adults	Yes	Yes (both versions)		2
Content	Conflict resolution/social problem solving	Yes	Yes (both versions)		2
Content	Communication skills	Yes	Yes (both versions)		2
Content	Child development		No
Content	Boundary setting/refusal skills	Yes	Yes (both versions)		5,7
Content	Substance use cessation	Yes	Yes (both versions)		5
Content	Substance use - Other drugs	Yes	Yes (both versions)		5
Content	Substance use - Alcohol	Yes	Yes (both versions)		5
Content	Substance use - Abstinence	Yes	Yes (both versions)		5
Content	Brain development and substance use		No
Content	Vocational/skills training		No
Content	Supplemental academic services		No
Content	Graduating from high school		No
Content	College preparation		No
Content	Alternative schooling		No
Content	Self-regulation		No
Content	Self-esteem		No
Content	Self-efficacy/empowerment		No
Content	Resilience		No
Content	Sexual health		No
Content	STIs - Treatment		No
Content	STIs - Screening		No
Content	STIs - Prevention	Yes	Yes (both versions)
Content	STIs - Information	Yes	Yes (both versions)
Content	Sexual risk reduction	Yes	Yes (both versions)
Content	Sexual risk discontinuation		No
Content	Sexual risk avoidance		No
Content	Personal vulnerability		No
Content	Maternal health		No
Content	Contraception - Condoms	Yes	Yes (both versions)		Group Session 8, Family Visit 4
Content	Contraception - Long-acting reversible contraceptives		No
Content	Contraception - Other		No
Content	Contraception - Pills, patches, rings, and shots		No
Content	Reproduction		No

Program Objectives

Familias Unidas aims to prevent substance use and sexual risk behaviors among Hispanic adolescents. The program seeks to reduce risk behavior by promoting parental involvement and other “protective factors” at the family, peer, and school level.

Program Content

Familias Unidas consists of group sessions with the parents of adolescents, which focus on increasing parental involvement and parents’ awareness of their role in protecting their adolescent from risky behavior. The intervention also includes family sessions in which caregivers can employ the skills they learn in group sessions with their adolescent.

Program Methods

Familias Unidas was developed for Hispanic youth and family populations. The program is influenced by ecodevelopmental theory. Intervention activities consider Hispanic cultural expectations and norms. The program focuses on reducing youth’s risk behaviors by targeting improved family functioning through parent group sessions and family sessions.

Program Structure and Timeline

The 12-week Familias Unidas program consists of eight parent group sessions and four family sessions, both of which are guided by facilitators. The parent group sessions are two hours and includes 12 to 15 parents. The family sessions are one hour long and allow parents to practice the skills learned during the parent groups. The six-week abbreviated version of the program consists of 5 parent group sessions and one family session, guided by facilitators.

Staffing

The program is designed to be delivered by two trained co-facilitators. The developer advises that facilitators should have at least a bachelor’s degree and should also speak Spanish. To implement the program, facilitators are required to attend a four day training.

Additional Needs for Implementation

The program materials and resources include the following:

Familias Unidas Manual
Clinical Supervision Manual
Parent Handbook
Adherence Manual
Adherence forms for family sessions
Adherence forms for group sessions
Skills videos

Recording equipment is necessary to capture group and family sessions.

Fidelity

Fidelity evaluations are carried out by the developer using observational fidelity measures that assess the facilitator’s use of core intervention components. Throughout the duration of the intervention, a site clinical supervisor also provides support through discussions, troubleshooting, and reviews of intervention fidelity.

Staff Training

Training is conducted across four days and is focused on understanding the core components of the intervention, skill development in engaging and retaining participants, role play practice, and review of past participant videos.

Technical Assistance and Ongoing Support

Weekly supervision can be provided and includes case reviews, discussion of clinical issues, troubleshooting retention, and feedback based on fidelity ratings.

Allowable Adaptations

Adaptations of the Familias Unidas intervention are allowed only with written authorization from the developers.

Reviewed Studies

Citation	High-Quality Randomized Trial	Moderate-Quality Randomized Trial	Moderate-Quality Quasi-experiment	Low Study Rating	Did Not Meet Eligibility Criteria
Estrada et al. 2015	✓
Prado et al. 2007	✓
Prado et al. 2012 Prado et al. 2013	✓

Study Characteristics

Citation	Setting	Majority Age Group	Majority Racial/Ethnic Group	Gender	Sample Size
Estrada et al. 2015	Multiple settings	14 to 17	Hispanic or Latinx of any race	Youth of any gender	160
Prado et al. 2007	After school	13 or younger	Hispanic or Latinx of any race	Youth of any gender	266
Prado et al. 2012 Prado et al. 2013	After school	14 to 17	Hispanic or Latinx of any race	Youth of any gender	242

Study Findings

Evidence by Outcome Domain and Study

Citation	Sexual Activity	Number of Sexual Partners	Contraceptive Use	STIs or HIV	Pregnancy
Estrada et al. 2015		n.a.		n.a.	n.a.
Prado et al. 2007	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.		n.a.
Prado et al. 2012 Prado et al. 2013	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.		n.a.

Detailed Findings

Citation	Details
Estrada et al. 2015	A more recent study involving 160 students in Miami-Dade County high schools and their families examined the effectiveness of Brief Familias Unidas using a randomized controlled trial. Brief Familias Unidas is an adapted version of the Familias Unidas program that reduces the duration of the intervention to include five parent sessions (compared to eight in the full length program) and one family visit (compared to four in the full length program). The study collected data before random assignment (baseline) and again 6, 12, and 24 months after baseline. The study found that, 24 months after the baseline survey, the adolescents in the group that received Brief Familias Unidas and who were not sexually experienced at baseline were less likely to have had initiated sex than their counterparts in the group that did not receive the program (odds ratio = 0.42, confidence interval = 0.27 to 0.65). At the 24-month follow-up, the study found no evidence of statistically significant impacts on having vaginal or anal sex without a condom in the past 90 days. The study also examined program impacts on measures of use of cigarettes, alcohol, illicit substances, overall substance use, parental involvement, positive parenting, and parent-adolescent communication. Findings for these outcomes were not considered for the review because they fell outside the scope of the review.
Prado et al. 2007	The study evaluated Familias Unidas using a randomized controlled trial that involved 266 Hispanic 7th grade students in Miami-Dade County middle schools and their families. Surveys in the study were administered before the program (baseline) and again six and 12 months after the program ended. The study found no evidence of statistically significant program impacts on measures of incidence of STIs.
Prado et al. 2012 Prado et al. 2013	The study evaluated Familias Unidas using a randomized controlled trial that involved 242 juvenile justice youth and their families in Miami-Dade County. Surveys in the study were administered before the program (baseline) and again six months after the baseline. The study found no evidence of statistically significant program impacts on ever having contracted a STI. The study also examined program impacts on number of sexual partners and having unprotected sex in the last three months. Findings for these outcomes were not considered for the review because they did not meet the review evidence standards. Specifically, findings were reported only for subgroups of youth defined by sexual activity at follow-up.

Breadcrumb

Lists*