Adapting Family-Centered Therapy for Hispanic Americans with SUD

This report explores the application of family-centered therapy in addressing substance use disorders among Hispanic Americans, highlighting the cultural nuances and challenges involved. It begins by providing background information on the Hispanic population in the United States and the prevalence of substance abuse within this community, attributing the disparities to factors like social-structural issues, family structure, gender roles, and acculturation. The report emphasizes the utility of family-centered therapy in addressing the bio-psychosocial needs of individuals and their families, aiming to create a supportive environment. It discusses how this therapy can improve individual, relational, and societal outcomes, such as reducing drug use, improving family functioning, and promoting economic well-being. The report also identifies ways to adapt the therapy, including integrating family members, considering treatment outcome predictors, and utilizing effective counseling skills. Challenges in implementing the therapy, such as lack of training and logistical barriers, are also acknowledged. The report concludes by highlighting the potential of family-centered therapy to improve the health and well-being of Hispanic individuals and families affected by substance abuse.

N A M E O F T H E S T U D E N T
N A M E O F T H E U N I V E R S I T Y
A U T H O R ’ S N O T E
Substance use disorder family-
centred therapy to meet the
needs of Hispanic Americans

Details about the cultural or ethnic
group
Hispanic and Latino
Americans are those cultural
groups living in United states
who are descendants of
people living in Latin
America, Spain and Portugal.
It is the largest ethnic group
living in U.S with a
population of about 57.5
million in July, 2016
The Hispanics comprise
17.8% of the total U.S
population (United States
Census Bureau 2017).

Issues found in the chosen cultural
group
 Substance abuse is highly
prevalent among the Hispanic
population
 The disparities in substance
abuse behaviour can be
understood from theories like
social-structural theories, family
structure, gender roles and
acculturation theory
 Chartier et al. (2015) explored
links between substance abuse
and acculturation in Hispanic
groups and revealed that people
who have longer residencies in
U.S. have higher risk compared
to those who have lived for
small period.
Fig 1: Causes and outcome of susbtance
abuse. Source: (Halley Grigsby et al., 2014)

Prevalence of substance abuse in
Hispanics
 Young Hispanic youths before the age of 13 has been found to
have the highest rate of smoking, drinking alcohol and trying
marijuana compared to other ethnic groups in U.S (Halley
Grigsby et al., 2014).
 Such drug abuse trend increases risk of addiction and serious
drug abuse related problems
 Substance abuse rate is higher in Hispanic males compared to
Hispanic females
 Substance abuse rate is also higher in Hispanic who were born
in US compared to those born outside the country (Amaro &
Cortes, 2007).

Substance abuse disorder family centered therapy
Substance use disorder family
centred therapy is a family
oriented treatment for substance
abuse as it aims to address the
bio-psychosocial needs of affected
person as well as their family
members.
The effectiveness of this therapy is
understood from that is recognize
unique needs and resources of
individual families and creates a
supportive environment for
healthy family systems.
The treatment is dynamic to
address complex family needs and
provide culturally responsive care
(Liddle, 2015).

Utility of family centred substance abuse therapy for
Hispanics
 People with substance abuse problem can suffer from different
range of issues like mental health, academic problems like
declining grade, depression, poor peer and family relationship
 The main goal of drug abuse prevention program is to modify
risk or protective factors that increase the likelihood of youth
drug use (Bowen et al. 2014).
 The utility of family centred therapy is that it allows youth to
have control over the problem by utilizing family as a
protective factor for change in health behaviour. Kuntsche &
Kuntsche (2016) suggest that family-centred therapy can
promote parent-child connectness and parental monitoring
which are significant protective factors against drug use.

Main focus or goal of family centred treatment for
substance abuse:
Family centred treatment for substance aims to
achieve positive individual outcomes, relational
outcomes and societal outcomes.
For individual Hispanics affected by substance abuse,
it has the goal to improve treatment retention and
reduce illicit drug use in client
In the context of relational outcome, the main goal of
the therapy is to improve parenting style, family
functioning and communication process.
Improving societal outcomes means improving
capability to engage in daily work and promote
economic and social well-being (Liddle, 2015).

Ways to adapt substance abuse family-centred
therapy
Effective integration of family
member, treatment outcome
predictors and counselling skills can
help to adapt family centred therapy
for substance abuse prevention
In accordance with the CSAT
(Comprehensive Substance Abuse
Treatment) Model, family centred
therapy can be implemented by
involving family like children,
parents, husbands and other family
members in the care of the child.
Other important elements of family-
centred therapy include providing
services like skills training and
counselling (Guerrero et al., 2014).

Effectiveness of involving family members in the therapy
Family centred therapy for substance abuse conducts
individualized screening and assessment for each members
of the family.
Family involvement helps to identify strength and weakness
in family functioning that leads to risk behaviour in youths.
In the context of Hispanic youths, family involvement is
necessary to address issues related to acculturation
differences in parents and child in Hispanic communites.
Generational status difference is often a source of familial
tension and loss of traditional Hispanic values (Halley Grigsby
et al., 2014). Hence, poor family relationship often increases
risk of substance abuse in Hispanic youths and family centred
therapy has the potential to repair the parent-child
relationship.

Effectiveness of counselling skills on treatment outcomes
Apart from skills training, counselling
is also an important part of family
centred therapy
Counselling skills of the therapist
plays a major role in effectively
collaborating with client, their family
and other service system to address
complex needs of client
In case of Hispanic youths, family
involvement can work because many
people engage in substance abuse
because of family influence or family
cinflict. Rojas et al. (2012) suggest
that famiy history leads to high rate
of substance abuse disorders within
the Hispanics family. Family centred
treatment can provide services that
transform families into healthy and
functioning entities.

Links between family history and substance abuse patterns
in Hispanics
Klostermann and O'Farrell, (2013) showed
relation between substance abuse and family
maladjustment. A family in which one
member is suffering from substance abuse
problem is found to experience high level of
conflicts, psychological distress and instability.
Family centred therapy can create balance
between family system and reduce the
problem behaviour of substance abuse too.

Challenges in implementing family centred
therapy:
Some of the challenges that can be encountered while
adapting the therapy for Hispanics include the
following:
Lack of training in marital and family approaches can
minimize the effectiveness of the therapy
It is also difficult to address other practical barriers
like geographical distance between families,
adjusting family member’s and treatment provider’s
schedule.
Hence, there is a need to identify efficient
mechanism that can promote use of the therapy for
high risk cultural group with substance abuse.

Utility and new opportunities from family centred therapy
Family centred therapy provides scope to
improve health of the Hispanics in the
following ways:
Active recognition of social and health needs
of Hispanics
Effective support regarding skills development
and strategies to quit drugs
Successful collaboration across wide service
systems and renewed attention to the role of
family for health and well-being (McCollum &
Trepper, 2014).

References
Amaro, H., & Cortes, D. (2007). Drug abuse among Hispanics: A brief evidence-based guide for providers. Retrieved
from store. samhsa. gov/product/Drug-Abuse-Among-Hispanics/SMA07-4288 Google Scholar.
Bowen, S., Witkiewitz, K., Clifasefi, S. L., Grow, J., Chawla, N., Hsu, S. H., ... & Larimer, M. E. (2014). Relative efficacy
of mindfulness-based relapse prevention, standard relapse prevention, and treatment as usual for substance use
disorders: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA psychiatry, 71(5), 547-556.
Chartier, K. G., Carmody, T., Akhtar, M., Stebbins, M. B., Walters, S. T., & Warden, D. (2015). Hispanic Subgroups,
Acculturation, and Substance Abuse Treatment Outcomes. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 59, 74–82.
http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsat.2015.07.008
Guerrero, E. G., Marsh, J. C., Cao, D., Shin, H. C., & Andrews, C. (2014). Gender disparities in utilization and outcome
of comprehensive substance abuse treatment among racial/ethnic groups. Journal of substance abuse
treatment, 46(5), 584-591.
Halley Grigsby, T. J., Forster, M., Soto, D. W., Baezconde-Garbanati, L., & Unger, J. B. (2014). Problematic substance
use among hispanic adolescents and young adults: implications for prevention efforts. Substance use &
misuse, 49(8), 1025-1038.
Klostermann, K., & O'Farrell, T. J. (2013). Treating substance abuse: partner and family approaches. Social work in
public health, 28(3-4), 234-247.
Kuntsche, S., & Kuntsche, E. (2016). Parent-based interventions for preventing or reducing adolescent substance use
—A systematic literature review. Clinical Psychology Review, 45, 89-101.
Liddle, H. A. (2015). Multidimensional family therapy. Handbook of family therapy, 231-249.
McCollum, E. E., & Trepper, T. S. (2014). Family solutions for substance abuse: Clinical and counseling approaches.
Routledge. Rojas, J. I., Hallford, G., Brand, M. W., & Tivis, L. J. (2012). Latino/as in Substance Abuse Treatment:
Substance Use Patterns, Family History of Addiction and Depression. Journal of Ethnicity in Substance Abuse, 11(1),
75–85. http://doi.org/10.1080/15332640.2012.652530
United States Census Bureau (2017). Facts for Features: Hispanic Heritage Month 2017. Retrieved from:
https://www.census.gov/newsroom/facts-for-features/2017/hispanic-heritage.html