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10 Years of Multisystemic Therapy for Child Abuse and Neglect (MST-CAN): Do families and their children continue to benefit? Abstract:

Objective

Multisystemic Therapy for Child Abuse and Neglect (MST-CAN) is one of the few evidence-based treatment programs aimed at reducing child neglect and maltreatment. It has been implemented in the Canton of Basel-Stadt for 10 years. To justify both the high treatment intensity provided to individual families and the comparatively high per-family treatment costs associated with this approach, multisystemic therapy programs have long been required to demonstrate their effectiveness. This study examines the treatment outcomes of MST-CAN in Basel over the past decade.

Methods

Using a longitudinal study design with four measurement time points (MTP), we collected sociodemographic data from 124 parent-child dyads (children's age M = 11.2; parents' age M = 43.5), along with primary treatment outcomes, children's emotional and behavioral problems, neglect, and therapist adherence. We analyzed the differences between MTP and three defined time periods using analyses of variance. To examine therapist effects, we calculated multiple linear regressions.

Results

The sociodemographic characteristics of the families changed over time. Overall, the primary treatment outcomes met MST standards. Child emotional and behavioral problems as well as neglect decreased with large and moderate effect sizes, showed no differences between the periods, and remained largely independent of the treating therapists.

Conclusions

MST-CAN demonstrated consistently high treatment quality over the past 10 years.