The Role of Family-Based Prevention in Evidence-Based Policy: Opportunities and Recommendations for Prevention Science

Family dysfunction has long been recognized as a central risk factor for a host of negative education, health and criminal outcome. As a result policymakers often create new policies in an effort to support families—yet many such efforts are unsupported by scientific evidence. Successful efforts to increase government accountability combined with ongoing financial pressure on local, state, and federal institutions have facilitated movement towards creating evidence-based policies that have demonstrable value. Providing programs like these for the families that need them requires support from policymakers at the federal, state, and local levels. Researchers who are creating and studying family-based interventions also can do more to provide policymakers with the information they need to support these programs and implement them on a wide scale.

We review key policy efforts in this area and discuss lessons learned. Further we consider the implications of this policy making approach for family and prevention science and offer recommendations on how to magnify the benefits of family-based prevention. For federal policymakers, we recommend that funding be reallocated to support evidence-based programs, that structural support and implementation be provided to states, and that research evidence is periodically reviewed for programs. For state policymakers, we recommend that they assess and prioritize the needs of their local population, that they develop the infrastructure needed for sustainable programs, and that they fund the continuing evaluation of programs. Finally, we recommend that researchers expand their measures to include the spillover effects of programs on other family member, consider using administrative data, and report cost information for interventions from the beginning.