Exploring Acceptability and Feasibility of Evidence-Based Practice in Child Welfare Settings: A Pilot Study with Attachment-Based Family Therapy
Open accessAbstract
The Flemish Child Welfare System (CWS) is in great need of a shared empirically informed clinical strategy for working with depressed adolescents and their families. Many evidence-based practices (EBP) exist, but little is known as to whether they can be successfully imported in the CWS. Therefore, the current study explores the implementation of a particular EBP, Attachment-Based Family Therapy (ABFT), in home-based services of the Flemish CWS in Belgium. Specifically, the study focused on (1) the acceptability of ABFT by counselors and whether negative attitudes about EBP can be changed (n = 73 counselors), and (2) the feasibility of implementing ABFT (n = 43 adolescents, 11–17 years old, 72% female) by exploring initial effectiveness. The results suggest that (1) initial negative attitudes of counselors towards ABFT were significantly more positive after attending training and discussions about ABFT, and that (2) ABFT could be used by counselors to successfully reduce adolescent depressive symptoms. Future research should include a control group to draw stronger causal conclusions. Strengths and limitations of the study’s design and implications for further dissemination are discussed.
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Multiple studies have shown high acceptability and feasibility of ABFT for both adolescents and emerging adults.
“Multiple studies have shown high acceptability and feasibility of ABFT for both adolescents and emerging adults [20, 24–27].”
From The effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of attachment-based family therapy for young adults with high suicidal ideation: protocol of a randomized controlled trial (2024) · cites this paper as [26]
The Discussion reports a pilot study of ABFT implementation in child welfare services, and the Results report improved counselor attitudes on four of nine acceptability items after a workshop. This provides limited support for acceptability and feasibility with adolescents, but not for broadly high acceptability, multiple studies, or emerging adults: the study’s participants were aged 11–17 (Method; page unavailable). (LLM, conf=0.88)
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References 37 · Cited by 7
- Authors
- Santens, T., Levy, S. A., Diamond, G. S., Braet, C., Vyvey, M., Heylboeck, E., & Bosmans, G.
- Affiliations
- KU Leuven (BE)
- Drexel University (US)
- Ghent University (BE)
- Corresponding author
- Bosmans, Guy
- Venue
- Psychologica Belgica
- Publisher
- Ubiquity Press, Ltd.
- Published
- 2017-04-12
- Volume
- 57
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 43-58
- ISSN
- 0033-2879 (ISSN-L)
- 2054-670X
- PMC
- PMC5808108
- OpenAlex
- W2591888415
- Cited by
- 7
- References
- 37
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2021: 1 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 2 · 2016: 1
- FWCI
- 1.02
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Psychologica Belgica (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Lirias (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Ghent University Academic Bibliography (Ghent University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Psychologica Belgica (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Health Policy Implementation Science
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Child Welfare and Adoption
- Keywords
- attachment-based family therapy, evidence-based practice, child welfare, adolescent depression, counselor attitudes, implementation feasibility, home-based services, dissemination of evidence-based interventions, family therapy
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