skip to main content
Washington State Institute for Public Policy
Back Button

Family Behavior Therapy (FBT)

Substance Use Disorders: Treatment for Adults
  Literature review updated May 2014.
This program was archived December 2024.

Family Behavior Therapy is a standalone behavioral treatment based on the Community Reinforcement Approach aimed at reducing substance use. Participants attend sessions with at least one family member, typically a parent or cohabitating partner. The treatment consists of several parts including behavioral contracting, skills to reduce interaction with individuals and situations related to drug use, impulse and urge control, communication skills, and vocational or educational training. Treatment in the included studies occurred over a 6- to 12-month period. Our findings reflect only adults treated in the program and exclude results for adolescents.
 
ALL
META-ANALYSIS
CITATIONS

Meta-analysis is a statistical method to combine the results from separate studies on a program, policy, or topic to estimate its effect on an outcome. WSIPP systematically evaluates all credible evaluations we can locate on each topic. The outcomes measured are the program impacts measured in the research literature (for example, impacts on crime or educational attainment). Treatment N represents the total number of individuals or units in the treatment group across the included studies.

An effect size (ES) is a standard metric that summarizes the degree to which a program or policy affects a measured outcome. If the effect size is positive, the outcome increases. If the effect size is negative, the outcome decreases. See Estimating Program Effects Using Effect Sizes for additional information on how we estimate effect sizes.

The effect size may be adjusted from the unadjusted effect size estimated in the meta-analysis. Historically, WSIPP adjusted effect sizes to some programs based on the methodological characteristics of the study. For programs reviewed in 2024 or later, we do not make additional adjustments, and we use the unadjusted effect size whenever we run a benefit-cost analysis.

Research shows the magnitude of effects may change over time. For those effect sizes, we estimate outcome-based adjustments, which we apply between the first time ES is estimated and the second time ES is estimated. More details about these adjustments can be found in our 2020 Technical Documentation.

Meta-Analysis of Program Effects
Outcomes measured No. of effect sizes Treatment N Effect sizes (ES) and standard errors (SE) Unadjusted effect size (random effects model)
ES SE Age ES p-value
Illicit drug use disorder
Clinical diagnosis of illicit drug use disorder or symptoms measured on a validated scale. When possible, we exclude cannabis/marijuana use disorder from this outcome.
 30 1 38 -0.670 0.251 30 -0.670 0.008

Citations Used in the Meta-Analysis

Azrin, N.H., McMahon, P.T., Donahue, B., Besalel, V., Lapinski, K.J., Kogan, E.S., Acierno, R.E., & Galloway, E. (1994). Behavior Therapy for Drug Abuse: A Controlled Treatment Outcome Study. Behavioral Research and Therapy, 32(8), 857-866.