Developing Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT) for Parents of Treatment-Resistant Adolescents

J Child Adolesc Subst Abuse. 2015 May 4;24(3):155-165. doi: 10.1080/1067828X.2013.777379.

Abstract

We describe a project focused on training parents to facilitate their treatment-resistant adolescent's treatment entry and to manage their child after entry into community-based treatment. Controlled studies show that Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT) is a unilateral treatment that fosters treatment entry of adults; however, there are no controlled trials for parents with a substance-abusing child. We examined the behavioral parent training literature to guide us in tailoring CRAFT for parents of adolescents. We discuss adaptations to CRAFT, outcomes and experiences gained from a brief pilot of the revised CRAFT program, and the future directions of this work.

Keywords: CRAFT; Parents; adolescent substance use; treatment.