Marianne Welmers

Chapter 3 70 Methods Participants and Treatment Participants were 77 parents ( n = 54 (step)mothers, n = 23 (step)fathers) and 21 children from 57 families. The mean age of the child for whom the treatment was indicated was 10 ( SD = 4.4, range 0 – 16.7). The mean age of the children participating in the study was 11.7 years ( SD = 2.7, range 5 – 16), and the mean age of parents was 39 years ( SD = 7.8, range 25 – 55). The study was carried out in the Netherlands, and most participants were born in the Netherlands. In 3 families, one or both parents were born in a western country other than the Netherlands, and in 4 families one or both parents were born in a non- western country. Participating families received home-based family treatment for youth problems, designated as Intensieve Pedagogische Thuishulp ( IPT, Van der Steege, 2007). They were seen by 33 IPT-workers (12% male; M age 42.7, SD = 9.3), hereafter referred to as ‘therapists’. All therapists had a social work related (post-) bachelor’s degree and an average of 8.4 years of clinical experience ( SD = 4.7). Each therapist saw 1 – 6 families ( M = 1,73, SD = 1,15). Intensieve Pedagogische Thuishulp (IPT, Van der Steege, 2007) designates home based family treatment in the Netherlands for families dealing with complex child behavior and parenting problems. Most families experience problems in other domains as well, such as financial problems, parental psychopathology or lack of a supporting social network. An important treatment principle is that effective treatment for youth problems cannot be provided to a child isolated from parents and other family members and is best provided in the child’s daily living environment (Van der Steege, 2007). Consequently, the treatment applies a systemic approach and is provided in the family’s home. Furthermore, it is characterized by a solution-focused, empowering approach, focusing on improving parenting skills and enhancing social support. During treatment, an IPT-worker visits the family at their homes once or twice a week or once every two weeks, depending on the families’ needs and stage of treatment. Families in this study received IPT for an average period of 50 weeks ( SD = 30.2; Median = 45,5; range 12-168), with the majority of families (80%) receiving treatment with a length between 14 and 78 weeks. Measures Working Alliance Inventory – Short Form (WAI-s) To assess the alliance, we used the Working Alliance Inventory, Short Form (WAI-s; Horvath & Greenberg, 1989; Killian et al., 2017). The 12 items in this questionnaire (e.g. “My family counselor and I agree upon what I should do in order to improve the way things are going in my family” for the client version or “This client agrees upon what family members should do in order to improve