Family Intervention Programs

Cindy Carlson
Sandy Christenson

Domain Description:

Family intervention programs are becoming increasingly important for school psychologists and related professionals working with children and adolescents. The purpose of reviews in this area will be to feature family-based intervention or home-school collaboration projects that are implemented in schools or coordinated with school settings and which demonstrate a change in the child's behavior in school. Because family involvement is a significant, positive correlate of students' academic achievement and social adjustment, schools have developed specific efforts and practices for intervening with families and for promoting home-school collaboration. Intervention domains include parent education, preschool interventions (early childhood/family education, parent involvement, family/parent consultation, family-school collaboration/partnership, and family systems.

I Parent Training and Family Therapy

This domain reports on the outcomes associated with an evaluation of parent training and family therapy interventions in the schools or with school-related outcomes.

II Parent and Family Consultation

This domain reviews the evidence-base for parent or family consultation interventions.

III Family-School Collaboration

Family-school collaboration refers to the relationship between families and schools, whereby parents and educators work together to promote the academic and social development of children.

IV Parent Involvement

Parental involvement is thought to be an important contributor to children's academic success and social well being at school. Parental involvement refers to the active participation of significant caretakers in the educational process of their children. It includes a range of practices (e.g., volunteering, learning at home, communication between school and home, collaboration with community, decision-making, parenting).

V Parent Education

This domain reports the results of the evaluation of parent education intervention programs that measure school-related student outcomes.

VI Preschool/Early Intervention

In this domain, studies of family interventions with preschool children are summarized and evaluated according to the guidelines set forth by the Task Force.