Building an Evidence-Based Practice: The Families Actively Improving Relationships (FAIR) Program

Lisa Saldana, PhD
Oregon Social Learning Center

ABSTRACT:
The Families Actively Improving Relationships (FAIR) program, is an intervention for parents involved in the child welfare system for substance abuse and child neglect. The majority of parents are referred for methamphetamine and/or opioid abuse. FAIR has been undergoing development and evaluation over the last decade, and has seen consistent positive outcomes.

Importantly, FAIR has been developed under real-world conditions, including challenges posed by Medicaid funding.

FAIR integrates evidence-based strategies for substance use, parenting, and mental health problems, and provides skill building and assistance related to ancillary needs (e.g., employment).  Most parents are referred by their child welfare caseworker or other social service provider. FAIR is an intensive, outpatient treatment conducted in the environment in which families live to promote generalizability and sustainment.

This presentation will introduce FAIR, including a program description and intervention and implementation strategies that, though beneficial to producing client positive outcomes, pose challenges for integrating complex interventions such as these into community settings. Longitudinal outcomes will be described demonstrating FAIR’s effectiveness in addressing substance abuse, mental health, parenting, and ancillary needs. An adaptation of FAIR for Prevention recently has been funded as part of the NIDA HEAL initiative. A Hybrid I effectiveness-implementation trial, this study will evaluate the potential for FAIR to prevent escalation of parental substance abuse and subsequent negative child welfare outcomes. Study design and proposed implementation strategies will be described.