Even the most concerned, well-intentioned parent can be hard pressed to attend every school meeting, performance, and athletic competition. So how do you get over-scheduled parents and families involved in a weekly program aimed at preventing substance use and behavior problems? One answer is to ask parents to do it at home, on their own time.

One may wonder whether parents have the discipline to stick to the program and whether a DIY program can be as effective as one that requires parents to show up regularly and actively participate.

Kevin Haggerty and colleagues at the Social Development Research Group at the University of Washington decided to put all such possibilities to the test by randomized controlled trial.

They started with a racially balanced group of 331 families of eighth grade students (average age 13) recruited from the Seattle public schools. Families were randomly selected to be in one of three groups. Two participated in Parents Who Care (PWC), a seven-session prevention program which includes parenting, youth, and family components designed to prevent substance use and other problem behaviors.

Families in one of these two groups met at a local school on a weekly basis. The other group received written instructions on how to use a workbook and video to complete the same program at home. They also received weekly phone calls from a family consultant who asked them which activities they had completed, answered their questions, and motivated them to continue with the program.

The progress of the two PWC groups was compared with that of a third group who did not participate in any form of PWC to assess the program’s impact.

Two years after participation in the program, the data suggested that PWC, administered in a group setting or at home, helped reduce young people’s favorable attitudes toward drugs. Additionally, African American adolescents who participated in PWC were significantly less likely to start drinking or using drugs and/or to start having sex than their counterparts who were not involved in PWC.

Finally, African American kids in the self-administered group reported significantly less violent behavior than their counterparts in the group who did not participate. However, the program did not appear to reduce drug use harm or delinquency in general, for all kids.

The authors are not sure why PWC worked better with African American families. But they take heart that DIY programs can work, at least for some. And perhaps it’s not surprising. It may not be motivation that families lack, but simply transportation, childcare and time.

•Summary of “A Randomized Trial of Parents Who Care: Effects on Key Outcomes at 24-month Follow-up” by Haggerty K P, Skinner M L, MacKenzie E P and Catalano R F in Prevention Science, Volume 8, Number 4, December 2007, pp 249-260.