EFFICACY OF INTERVENTION FOR ENGAGING YOUTH AND FAMILIES INTO TREATMENT AND SOME VARIABLES THAT MAY CONTRIBUTE TO DIFFERENTIAL EFFECTIVENESS

This study reports data on the efficacy of Strategic Structural System s Engagement (SSSE), which is designed to bring hard-to-reach families into treatment. The study also explores variables that may contribute to differential effectiveness. Participants were 193 Hispanic familie s, who were randomly assigned to either experimental or control condit ions. Several important findings emerged. First, the overall results r eplicated earlier findings showing the superiority of SSSE: 81% of SSS E families, compared to 60% of control families, were successfully eng aged, chi(2)(1, N = 193) = 7.5, p < .001. Second, SSSE interventions w ere more successful with non-Cuban Hispanics (97% successfully engaged ) than with Cuban Hispanics (64% successfully engaged), chi(2)(1, N = 51) = 7.53, p = .006. Third, an analysis of intervention failures sugg ests a mechanism by which culture and ethnicity influence clinical pro cesses (resistance to engagement) and may result in differential effec tiveness.