Functional family therapy (FFT) for adolescents with antisocial behaviours: impacts on mental health issues, family functioning and recidivism

Background: FFT is a short‐term family‐based intervention designed to improve communication patterns in families with adolescents engaging in antisocial behaviour. Currently, FFT is disseminated to families with adolescents experiencing alcohol or other drug disorders, low IQ, serious offending behaviours and/or mental health (MH) issues or diagnoses. Aim: The primary aim was to examine the effectiveness of FFT on the MH of adolescents who engage in antisocial behaviour and have comorbid MH issues or diagnoses. The secondary aim to was to explore the impact of FFT on adolescents’ recidivism and family functioning in domains such as communication styles and conflict level. Method: Eleven electronic databases were reviewed. Peer reviewed studies that used FFT to treat families with adolescents who engage in antisocial behaviour were included regardless of study design or if the participants had MH issues. Results: The search yielded 220 studies, with 28 meeting inclusion criteria. FFT was effective in reducing a variety of MH issues for most adolescents. FFT was also effective in reducing recidivism and improving family functioning in most families. However, FFT did not prove to be superior to other interventions. Discussion: FFT, as well other interventions, are potential efficacious treatments for MH issues in adolescents who engage in antisocial behaviour and have comorbid MH issues. However, these findings should be interpreted with caution, given the methodological problems and high risk of bias in the studies. More methodologically sound studies are required, especially focusing on adolescents with comorbid MH issues.