Multidimensional treatment foster care (MTFC): results from an independent replication

Abstract

This study examines 24‐months post‐baseline outcomes for thirty‐five Swedish antisocial youths who received either treatment in multidimensional treatment foster care (MTFC) or treatment as usual (TAU). MTFC is a community‐based treatment programme that has been successful in treating chronic juvenile offenders in the USA. This study is the first randomized control study outside the USA. The youth treated in the MTFC programme consistently showed some statistically significant positive treatment effects compared to the youth exposed to TAU. The results suggest that MTFC might be an effective method in treating youth with severe behaviour problems in a Swedish context. The authors conclude that the programme ought to be of great interest for Swedish social services as an alternative to traditional care.

Los Angeles County Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act: Fiscal Year 2012–2013 Report

“…MTFC parents are part of the treatment team, along with program staff. MTFC parents implement a structured, individualized program for each youth, designed to simultaneously build on the youth's strengths and set clear rules, expectations, and limits (Westermark, Hansson, and Olsson, 2011). …”

Los Angeles County Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act: Fiscal Year 2015--2016 Report

“…MTFC parents are part of the treatment team, along with program staff. MTFC parents implement a structured, individualized program for each participant, designed to simultaneously build on the partici-pant's strengths and set clear rules, expectations, and limits (Westermark, Hansson, and Olsson, 2011). …”

Trials and Tribulations: Challenges and Prospects for Randomised Controlled Trials of Social Work with Children

“…However, with one exception, all published evaluations were conducted by the programme developers in the USA or, in Sweden, by the implementation team (Westermark et al, 2011). The first independent evaluation, our earlier quasi-experimental study of MTFC as an alternative to custody for young offenders, sounded the only cautionary note (Biehal et al, 2010(Biehal et al, , 2011.…”