Social Validity of the Strengthening Families Program in Northeastern Brazil: the Voices of Parents, Adolescents, and Facilitators.

In 2013, Brazil's Ministry of Health adopted the Strengthening Families Program (SFP 10-14), developed internationally for preventing drug abuse by enhancing family bonds. The social validity of the objectives, procedures, and perceived impacts of the program were investigated for participants and facilitators in northeastern Brazil. Focus groups with parents/guardians (N = 199), adolescents (N = 111), and facilitators (N = 100) were implemented. Content analysis revealed that the program's objectives were considered socially relevant and that there was a positive short-term perceived impact on family cohesion, authoritative parenting style, adolescent life skills, and the facilitators' professional capacity. The parents/guardians and adolescents presented a positive perception of the appropriateness of the program's methodology, while facilitators indicated the need to adapt it to vulnerable families and improve its implementation conditions. Future studies may benefit from these findings when developing similarly viable and scalable interventions in low-resource settings. Brazilian Trial Register RBR-7q9xh5. Registered 5 August 2017, http://www.ensaiosclinicos.gov.br/rg/RBR-7q9xh5/.

Needs assessment for cultural adaptation of Strengthening Families Program (SFP 10-14-UK) in Brazil.

This study sought to evaluate the cultural adequacy of materials and procedures of the Strengthening Families Program (SFP 10-14-UK) and to identify requirements for its cultural adaptation to Brazilian families. The descriptive study had 33 informants, including external observers, managers, multipliers, facilitators, adolescents, and parents. The data were collected at a pilot application in the Federal District. Direct observation was applied to four intervention groups, with seven meetings of 150 min for families, parents/guardians and adolescents, and mixed nominal groups at the end of the interventions. The results, analyzed through content analysis and descriptive statistics, provided evidence that SFP was perceived as sufficiently appealing, culturally relevant, and partially clear. Recommendations for cultural adaptation of linguistic aspects of the materials and procedures were made, considering the cultural and educational differences of the participant families. Focus on implementation quality, including infrastructure, families' mobilization and continuous planning, was recommended. Replication studies in other Brazilian regions and analyses of contextual and political dimensions are suggested.