Randomized controlled trial of solution-focused brief therapy for substance-use-disorder-affected parents involved in the child welfare system

Abstract

Objective: Solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) has shown promise as an effective interventionwith substance-abusing adults. This study expands on a preliminary study by Kim et al. (2018) by examining the results from the complete sample on substance abuse and trauma-related problems. Method: Child-welfare-involved parents were randomly assigned to either the SFBT (N 5 90) or treatment-as-usual (N5 89) control group.Mixed linearmodels tested changes using intent-to-treat analysis, and effect sizes examined the magnitude of treatment effects. Results: Both the SFBT and control groups decreased onmost of the Addiction Severity Index-SR (ASI-SR) measures and on all Trauma Symptom Checklist-40 (TSC-40) measures, indicating improvements. Between-group effect sizes favored the control group for two ASI-SR subscales— medical status and drug use—and favored SFBT for the TSC-40 subscale measures, although none was statistically significant except for the TSC-40 depression subscale. Conclusions: Further exploration of SFBT as an intervention to treat substance abuse and trauma among parents involved in the child welfare system is warranted.