Strategies

What Works for Health includes evidence-informed strategies to create communities where everyone can thrive.

8 Strategies
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Functional Family Therapy (FFT)

Introduce a short-term family-based intervention therapy focused on strengths, protective factors, and risk factors for youth with delinquency, violence, or substance abuse problems, and their families
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Safety and social support

Multisystemic Therapy (MST) for adolescents involved in the justice system

Use an intensive, family- and community-based intervention that addresses individual, family, and environmental risk factors that affect antisocial behaviors among adolescents who have committed serious offenses
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Safety and social support

Preschool programs with family support services

Provide center-based programs that support cognitive and social development among young children from families with low incomes, with supports such as home visiting or parental education
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Education
  • Safety and social support

Raise the Age

Increase the minimum and/or maximum age boundaries for youth to be processed in the juvenile justice system
Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion

Community Conditions

  • Safety and social support

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies

Trauma-informed juvenile justice systems

Support a trauma-informed juvenile justice system to recognize and respond to trauma’s impact on youth through staff training and broad adoption of trauma-informed practices and policies
Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion

Community Conditions

  • Safety and social support

Societal Rules

  • Institutional practices

Treatment Foster Care

Place youth with mental, emotional, and behavioral health challenges in foster families that provide a structured, nurturing, therapeutic environment; also called Therapeutic Foster Care (TFC)
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Safety and social support

Treatment Foster Care Oregon

Place severely and chronically delinquent youth in foster families that are trained in structured behavior management and connected to TFCO program staff; formerly called Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Safety and social support

Youth transfer to the adult criminal justice system

Transfer youth who are arrested from the juvenile justice system to the adult criminal justice system by discretionary transfer decisions or transfer qualifying criteria
Evidence Rating:
Evidence of Ineffectiveness

Community Conditions

  • Safety and social support

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies