Ana Teixeira de Melo

Cultural Adaptation Process for International Dissemination of the Strengthening Families Program

The Strengthening Families Program (SFP) is an evidence-based family skills training intervention developed and found efficacious for substance abuse prevention by U.S researchers in the 1980s. In the 1990s, a cultural adaptation process was developed to transport SFP for effectiveness trials with diverse populations (African, Hispanic, Asian, Pacific Islander, and Native American). Since 2003, SFP has been culturally adapted for use in 17 countries. This article reviews the SFP theory and research and a recommended cultural adaptation process. Challenges in international dissemination of evidence-based programs (EBPs) are discussed based on the results of U.N. and U.S. governmental initiatives to transport EBP family interventions to developing countries. The technology transfer and quality assurance system are described, including the language translation and cultural adaptation process for materials development, staff training, and on-site and online Web-based supervision and technical assistance and evaluation services to assure quality implementation and process evaluation feedback for improvements.

Transforming Risks into Opportunities in Child Protection Cases: A Case Study with a Multisystemic, In-Home, Strength-Based Model

Multisystemic, strength-based, in-home, collaborative family-centered programs have been advocated as an efficacious means to help multichallenged families living in poverty. The Integrated Family Assessment and Intervention Model (IFAIM) was developed in Portugal to assist the child protection system in conducting child protection assessments and in supporting multichallenged families with at-risk children and youth to overcome the risks and guarantee the childs safety. This article describes a single case study evaluating the process and outcome of the implementation of IFAIM with a multichallenged family referred by a child protection agency. The results support IFAIMs efficacy in promoting clinical significant changes in family and parental functioning through supporting the family with a focus on its strengths and key family resilience processes.

Beyond the family life cycle: Understanding family development in the twenty-first century through complexity theories

Perspectives on family development have been organized, mainly, around the idea of the family life cycle. However, a family life cycle approach is probably too simplistic and norm-oriented to understand family development, particularly in face of the diversity of family forms and challenges in the twenty-first century. In this article, we discuss how family science can borrow inspiration from concepts and methods of complexity sciences in order to (re)conceptualize family development as the time unfolding of a complex self-organizing system, in the direction of increasing differentiation and integration. We highlight some strategies to inspect developmental coordination dynamics at the level of the whole family, as a complex system. We hope this reflection opens a new space of debate and new avenues for theoretical development and research in the field of family science.

Antagonistic effect of IL1 variants in periodontitis and external apical root resorption: Evidence from a literature review

External apical root resorption (EARR) induced by orthodontic treatment and chronic periodontitis (CP) are complex phenotypes dependent on the interaction of multiple genetic and non-genetic risk factors. Apart from different environmental triggers, these phenotypes are caused by antagonistic biological mechanisms involving local immunoinflammatory reaction and alveolar bone metabolism, for which IL1 have a prominent role. Whereas EARR benefits from bone remodelling, CP is characterized by osteolytic damaged. Our aim was to verify if these two phenotypes have opposite genetic profiles, considering the most frequently analysed polymorphisms for both diseases. A review of the literature was performed searching for the association of rs1800587 from Interleukin-1 alpha (IL1A) gene and rs1143634 from interleukin-1 beta (IL1B) gene with EARR and CP. The electronic search included MEDLINE/PubMed, EBSCOhost, Cochrane and Web of Science databases. Twenty four articles met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. For IL1B polymorphism, two out of seven studies found a significant statistical association between EARR and CC genotype, whether for CP, there were eighth out of fifteen references describing a statistically significant associations with T allele. For IL1A variant, no significant association with EARR was described. In conclusion, literature review suggests that for IL1B SNP rs1143634, EARR and CP have an opposite genetic profile. For IL1A SNP, our hypothesis could not be confirmed.

Qualitative Methods for the Exploration of Complexity in Human Social Systems: Applications in Family Psychology

The study of Complex Systems has expression in the many fields dedicated to human social systems. However, Family Psychology has been slow in integrating contributions from complexity science, although the interaction could open new research avenues towards a deeper understanding of the processes underlying family emergence, development, change and adaptation. The mathematics of complex systems are appealing and many authors have applied them in psychological studies. However, there are many aspects of the family, as a human social systems, which are not amenable to quantitative analyses, at least without significant loss of the same features of complexity that need to be understood. In this paper, we discuss the use of qualitative methods in complexity research and present an integrative view of a Complexity-Informed, Qualitative, Case-Based Discovery-Oriented Family Psychology, oriented by a General Complexity Thinking approach where Abduction, along with induction and deduction, drives the enlargement of our understanding of complexity.

Instrumentos para Avaliação da Capacidade Parental e Familiar em Situações de Risco

The Integrated Family Assessment and Intervention Model (IFAIM) incorporates an assessment process which aims to inform decision making in situations of psychosocial risk or danger for the child, as well as the elaboration or family support projects. The Instruments of Synthesis of Comprehensive Assessments in IFAIM (ISCAI) were built to support the organization and synthesis of this assessment process. The purpose of this study is to evaluate its psychometric properties concerning construct validity, concurrent validity and reliability, considering internal consistency and inter-rater agreement. The ISCAI revealed quite satisfactory psychometric properties which allow recommending its use in the organization and synthesis of comprehensive assessments.

Training professionals in community settings: Change processes and outcomes in a child protection context

This article reports an action-research focused on the improvement of a training program for professionals working with multi-challenged families with at-risk or maltreated children. The program aimed at the implementation of a multi-systemic, collaborative and strength-based family assessment and intervention model. Outcome evaluation results indicate that professionals improved their skills and achieved minimal competence. Process evaluation reveals that participating in the training has been a transformative experience and highlights facilitator and constraining conditions for participants’ learning and changing as well as suggestions for improvement of the training program. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

The Family at the Center of Interdisciplinary Research in Complex Systems: A Call for Future Research Programs

In this communication we explore different lines of inquiry holding the family at the center of interdisciplinary research programs in complexity science which aim not only to understand family dynamics with relevance for therapeutic or developmental interventions but also to other fields of science. We define three levels of research in family complexity. Assuming the family as a complex system as the departure level we propose the exploration of two additional research directions, one from the family down, into the dynamics of its microsystems and using them as windows to understand the biopsiconeurological worlds, and one from the family up, using it as a relevant sample of broader social complex system. We discuss possible lines of inquiry for each level of family complexity science.

Validity and Reliability of Three Rating Scales to Assess Practitioners’ Skills to Conduct Collaborative, Strength-Based, Systemic Work in Family-Based Services

This study analyzed the reliability and validity of three rating scales designed to assess practitioners’ skills in conducting systemic, collaborative, and strength-based assessments and interventions with multi-challenged families in family-based community services. The three scales, which assess reception and assessment skills, basic skills, and skills to support change, revealed good psychometric properties considering their construct validity, internal consistency, and inter-rater agreement. The results are discussed considering future research and possible applications of the scales in research and practice.