UB School of Social Work Receives $2.9 Million NIAAA Grant to Help Families Break Cycle of Substance Abuse

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Researchers at the University at Buffalo have received a five-year, $2.9 million grant to conduct an international project aimed at helping children of alcohol-dependent parents avoid becoming substance abusers themselves.

The Strengthening Families Program (SFP) will be conducted by the Center for Research on Urban Social Work Practice in the UB School of Social Work, in collaboration with Canada's Centre for Addictions and Mental Health (CAMH). Brenda Miller, Ph.D., professor of social work and director of the center, is principal investigator of the project.

The project will consist of a highly structured, skills-building program -- which has been tested in various settings nationally and internationally -- for families of children ages 9-12 conducted over a 14-week period. Families will be identified from parents currently or recently receiving alcohol treatment. The goal is to provide parent training, as well as individual and family-skills training, for children of alcohol- and other drug-dependent parents.

Families will participate in weekly, three-hour meetings that be will be divided into three segments. The first hour will consist of separate classes for parents and children focusing on a particular topic, such as communication skills. In the second hour, parents and children practice together the skills they have just learned. The third hour will be a family-focused social period.

A comparison group of families will be provided a more standard form of family intervention to test the effectiveness of the SFP.

A total of 720 families from Western New York and the Toronto area will be selected to participate in the research. The program, which is expected to begin in September, will be followed by booster sessions held six months and one year after the program has been completed.

The SFP will be conducted in the evenings and on weekends, and the entire family will be encouraged to attend.

The Strengthening Families Program will be conducted in partnership with community agencies and drug-and-alcohol agencies in Buffalo and Toronto, and in each city's surrounding communities. Each agency will work with two groups of no more than 12 families within any given year, with some families receiving full-blown intervention and others receiving a standard intervention program.

Students in the School of Social Work's master's and doctoral programs will work with participating agencies in the project.

"This is an excellent example of the university partnering with the community and recognizing the expertise of people in the community in creating partnerships," noted Miller. "In addition to being a research project, it also will be an opportunity for students in the School of Social Work to have direct, hands-on experience in a prevention intervention model.

"What makes this project unique is that it's an international effort and we'll be able to compare how the cultural context and environmental setting support or hinder prevention efforts for these families," she said.

Miller noted that under the Canadian health-care system, residents have "a much more extensive medical-coverage and social-services-benefits package than what's available to U.S. citizens." Researchers also expect to learn more about the two countries' different beliefs, norms and values about alcohol and drug abuse.

Effectiveness of the program will be evaluated by standardized outcome measures of risk/protective factors, such as subsequent substance use or abuse, self-esteem, coping skills, family environment and life stressors, gathered from both children and parents.

The grant is funded by the National Institute on Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse. Co-principal investigators are Andrew Safyer, Ph.D., UB associate professor of social work, and David Dewit, Ph.D., of Canada's CAMH. Eugene Maguin, Ph.D., of UB and Scott MacDonald, Ph.D., of CAMH, are co-investigators.