CHAPTER 14
Family Interventions
SUMMARY
As discussed in Chapter 3, the nature of the family structure in the United States and
elsewhere is shifting in response to changes in social, political, and economic conditions.
More and more families deal with the stresses of separation, divorce, and single
parenting, re-partnering and the complexities of blended families, the loss of extended
family networks, migration, immigration, and acculturation, and the enduring effects of
poverty and the Great Recession. Any one of these stresses can severely disrupt family
life. Even negotiating the inevitable developmental changes that are part of the family life
OUTLINE
Family Counseling
♦ Referring the Family for Counseling
♦ The Nature of Family Counseling
♦ Strategies in Family Counseling
Alternatives to Family Counseling
♦ The EcoFIT Model and the Family Check-Up
o Teen Check-Up
o Adolescent Transitions Program
♦ Multisystemic Therapy
♦ Functional Family Therapy
♦ Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care
♦ Family Effectiveness Training
♦ Parent Effectiveness Training
o Problem Ownership
Adjuncts to Family Counseling and Parent Training: Parent Psychoeducation
♦ Culture and Coaching
o The Premack Principle
o Logical and Natural Consequences
o Time-Out
♦ Parent Support Groups
Conclusion
SUPPLEMENTS
PowerPoint: Chapter 14 Summary Points
ACTIVITIES
1) Have the students get into groups and list the similarities of the family-focused
interventions listed in the chapter, including how the ecological model is
represented in each.
2) Bring into class several clips from TV shows that depict parenting situations.
Have students:
ESSAY QUESTIONS
1. How could the Premack Principle (“Grandma’s Rule”) be used to help motivate a
child to finish his homework? Illustrate your answer by reference to a Case Study
2. Using your understanding of the premise of the model, explain why bicultural
effectiveness training is a key component of family effectiveness training.
3. Compare and contrast family counseling with individual counseling regarding
both: 1) how problems are viewed, and 2) how this perspective drives treatment
4. How do the natural consequences of actions differ from their logical
5. What alternative to family counseling do you think would be best, and why? Does
your answer depend on the case that you are addressing? Explain your answer.
MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS
The following questions conform to the standards required by CACREP, EPAS, and other
accrediting agencies.
1. The Parent Effectiveness Training (PET) is based on the principles of:
A. reward and punishment.
B. constructive problem solving and relationship building.
C. active listening and giving I-messages.
D. unconditional positive regard and empathy.
2. To communicate a deep sense of acceptance and understanding to a child is
called:
A. mutual problem solving.
B. family effectiveness training.
C. active listening.
D. sending I-messages.
3. Fusion (a low level of differentiation) is characterized by:
A. responding to conflict on a cognitive level on the basis of conscious beliefs
and values.
B. the ability to adapt easily to change.
C. the inability to separate emotional from intellectual interaction.
D. family members feeling guilty for past conflicts.
4. Triangulation generally increases:
A. communication within the family.
B. problematic communication within a family.
C. student dropout rate.
D. bonds within the family.
5. The EcoFIT approach to family treatment is based on the principles of:
A. family therapy.
B. collaborative problem solving.
C. motivational interviewing.
D. attachment therapy.
6. The system that focuses on parents with skills to effectively monitor, discipline
their children, and on increasing family cohesion is called:
A. Positive Behavior Support (PBS).
B. Adolescent Transition Program (ATP).
C. Multisystemic Therapy (MST).
D. Functional Family Therapy (FFT).
7. A principle that tells us that, “for any pair of responses, the more probable one
will reinforce the less probable one” is called the:
A. Premack principle (Grandma’s Rule).
B. Natural Consequence principle.
C. Sequencing Skills principle.
D. Responsibility Effectiveness principle.
8. Logical and natural consequences can:
A. be viewed as “soft” punishment.
B. encourage children to take responsibility.
C. cause maladaptive patterns of behavior.
D. encourage resistant behavior in young children.
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A-head: Adjuncts to Family Counseling and Parent Training: Parent
Psychoeducation
9. A logical consequence for a child who threw his toys would be:
A. for the toy to break and parent not replace it.
B. to not be allowed to play with that toy for the rest of the day.
C. to be sent to time-out.
D. to develop a behavior contract for throwing.
10. A child tells you, “I hate my teacher. She corrected me in the front of the whole
class. I never want to go to school again.” Which of the following is a response
that uses active listening?
A. “You have to go to school, it’s the law.”
B. “You were really angry at your teacher today for correcting you. Sounds like
that might have been embarrassing.”
C. “Sweetie I’m so sorry. That was not a nice thing to do and she shouldn’t have
done that.”
D. “Wow – I hate days like that. Let’s go play a game and forget about school
for a while.”
11. Which of the following are the two major tasks of forming a relationship?
A. Deciding what the rules of the relationship are and negotiating who makes the
rules
B. Deciding what the rules of the relationship are and deciding how to make each
partner abide by them
C. Deciding what the consequences for breaking the rules of the relationship are
and deciding who decides what the penalties are for breaking them
12. If a problem is identified in class that might require family counseling, it should
be explained in vague terms so as not to embarrass the student.
A. True
B. False
13. Paradoxical messages are:
A. used by counselors to direct the family to do something that seems opposite to
the stated goal.
B. the root cause of much family dysfunction.
C. a common technique of rebellion among teens.
D. a danger signal for teen suicide.
14. Prescribing the symptom is a technique that is useful with:
A. gay students.
B. immigrant families.
C. resistant families.
D. migrant families.
15. All interventions should be based on empirical evidence.
A. True
B. False
16. Which of the following is not a principle of effective family-focused intervention?
A. Timing and development
B. Regression and therapy
C. Trainer or leader
D. Empowerment
17. What kind of approach is EcoFIT?
A. Traditional
B. Ecological
C. Transitional
D. Detrimental
18. Why is the first session of a Family Check-Up held in the family home?
A. To make them feel comfortable
B. To reassure them that they are in charge
C. To cut down on costs
D. To observe the family in its usual setting
19. What is not a component of a Teen Check-Up?
A. Feedback
B. Assessment
C. Encouragement
D. Engagement
20. Which of the following is a danger of multidimensional treatment foster care?
A. Increased close interactions with the foster family’s children might deviate
them
B. Increased close interactions with deviant peers in the same foster care
C. Extreme expenses leading to the early closure of the program
D. Sexual dysfunction among the foster parents
21. One of the goals of Family Effectiveness Training would not be achieved in a
family with:
A. significant intergenerational conflict.
B. significant intercultural conflict.
C. no intergernational or intercultural conflict.
D. significant intergenerational and intercultural conflict.
22. What are the two principles of parent effectiveness training?
A. Unconditional negative regard and envy
B. Conditional positive regard and empathy
C. Unconditional positive regard and empathy
D. Conditional negative regard and envy
23. Cultural appropriateness is essential to the success of parent psychoeducation
programs.
A. True
B. False
24. The Premack principle is simply the application of:
A. carrots and sticks.
B. incentives.
C. empirical research.
D. psychotherapy.
25. A free-market capitalist would likely approve of the underlying principle of:
A. Family Effectiveness Training.
B. Teen Check-Up.
C. Family Check-Up.
D. the Premack principle.