***TASK*** the task is to summarize an input biomedical literature in six sentences 
    ***INPUT*** the input is a biomedical literature 
    ***OUTPUT*** the output is the summary of an input biomedical literature in six sentences 
    ***DOCUMENTATION*** 
    ***EXAMPLES*** 
    Input: The relative effectiveness of group care ( GC ) and multidimensional treatment foster care ( MTFC ) was compared in terms of their impact on criminal offending , incarceration rates , and program completion outcomes for 79 male adolescents who had histories of chronic and serious juvenile delinquency . Results show that boys who participated in MTFC had significantly fewer criminal referrals and returned to live with relatives more often . Multiple regression analyses showed that assignment to a treatment condition ( i.e. , GC or MTFC ) predicted official and self-reported criminality in follow-up beyond other well-known predictors of chronic juvenile offending ( i.e. , age at 1st offense , number of previous offenses , age at referral ) Fifty-five families of chronically offending delinquents were r and omly assigned to parent-training treatment or to service traditionally provided by the juvenile court and community . The families in the  parent-training group  received an average of 44.8 hours of professional contact ( 23.3 hours of which were phone contacts ) , and each control group  family received treatment estimated at more than 50 hours on the average . Comparisons of police contact data at baseline and subsequent years for the two groups showed that subjects in both groups demonstrated reduced rates of offending during the followup years . The finding most relevant was significant treatment-by-time effect for offense rates , with most of this effect accounted for by a greater reduction in serious crimes for the experimental group during the treatment year , and a similar reduction of the community control group occurring in the first of three followup years . These early decrements in offense rates persisted during followup for both groups . Throughout the study , boys in the experimental group spent significantly less time in institutional setting s than did boys in the control group . Parent training had a significant impact , but the reduction in offending was produced at very high emotional cost to staff . Although it is clear that this population requires substantial treatment re sources , this study underscores the need for more work on prevention This article examined the long-term effects of multisystemic therapy ( MST ) vs. individual therapy ( IT ) on the prevention of criminal behavior  and violent offending among 176 juvenile offenders at high risk for committing additional serious crimes . Results from multiagent , multi method assessment batteries conducted before and after treatment showed that MST was more effective than IT in improving key family correlates of antisocial behavior and in ameliorating adjustment problems in individual family members . Moreover , results from a 4-year follow-up of rearrest data showed that MST was more effective than IT in preventing future criminal behavior , including violent offending . The implication s of such findings for the design of violence prevention programs are discussed The study tested alternative intervention strategies to reduce escalation in problem behaviors among high-risk young adolescents ( 11 to 14 years old ) . A total of 158 families with young adolescents ( male and female ) participated in this study . Of these , 119 families were r and omly assigned to 1 of the following intervention conditions : ( a ) parent focus , ( b ) teen focus , ( c ) parent and teen focus , ( d ) self-directed change ( material s only ) . In addition , 39 families of young adolescents were recruited as a quasi-experimental control . Parent focus and teen focus interventions result ed in immediate beneficial effects in observed and reported family conflict . The parent intervention conditions showed immediate beneficial effects on behavior problems at school . Longitudinal trends suggest that the parent focus condition may reduce subsequent tobacco use , compared with all other approaches . Interventions that aggregated high-risk youths into groups , however , showed the highest escalations in tobacco use and problem behavior at school , beginning at termination and persisting to follow-up . These findings are discussed with respect to the need to re-evaluate strategies that aggregate high-risk youths into intervention programs and focus more on strategies to engage parents in prevention The effects of multisystemic therapy ( MST ) in treating violent and chronic juvenile offenders and their families in the absence of ongoing treatment fidelity checks were examined . Across 2 public sector mental health sites , 155 youths and their families were r and omly assigned to MST versus usual juvenile justice services . Although MST improved adolescent symptomology at posttreatment and decreased incarceration by 47 % at a 1.7-year follow-up , findings for decreased criminal activity were not as favorable as observed on other recent trials of MST . Analyses of parent , adolescent , and therapist reports of MST treatment adherence , however , indicated that outcomes were substantially better in cases where treatment adherence ratings were high . These results highlight the importance of maintaining treatment fidelity when disseminating complex family-based services to community setting Multisystemic therapy ( MST ) delivered through a community mental health center was compared with usual services delivered by a Department of Youth Services in the treatment of 84 serious juvenile offenders and their multiproblem families . Offenders were assigned r and omly to treatment conditions . Pretreatment and posttreatment assessment batteries evaluating family relations , peer relations , symptomatology , social competence , and self-reported delinquency were completed by the youth and a parent , and archival records were search ed at 59 weeks postreferral to obtain data on rearrest and incarceration . In comparison with youths who received usual services , youths who received MST had fewer arrests and self-reported offenses and spent an average of 10 fewer weeks incarcerated . In addition , families in the MST condition reported increased family cohesion and decreased youth aggression in peer relations . The relative effectiveness of MST was neither moderated by demographic characteristics nor mediated by psychosocial variables Abstract Thirty families in which parent-child conflict was identified as a problem were r and omly assigned to an individual-family-based reciprocity training condition , a group-family-based reciprocity training condition and a waiting-list control ( WLC ) group . The results provided some support for the effectiveness of reciprocity training as measured by the Achenbach Aggressiveness factor and decreases in parent-recorded child problem behaviour . Both group and individual methods of presentation were superior to the WLC group on these measures from pre- to post-training . Benefits produced by training were maintained at the 2-month follow-up . Improvements were evident for all conditions on the Parent Attitude Survey . Family Relationship Index and Child Perception of Parent Behaviour Question naire , with no superiority of treatment conditions over the WLC group . Minimal difference in outcome was found between individual and group methods of family reciprocity training Thirty r and omly selected juvenile delinquents receiving a dual treatment approach of community outreach counseling services ( Project CREST ) and probationary supervision  were compared over a 6-month period with a  control group of 34 delinquents receiving only probationary supervision .  The CREST group demonstrated significant improvements over the control group on total acts of misconduct ( p<.05 ) and monthly misconduct rates ( p<.025 ) . These findings are discussed in light of previous evaluations of the CREST model 
    Output:
    
This model takes into account within- study sampling error and between- studies variation in the assessment of uncertainty and will give wider confidence intervals to the effect size and hence a more conservative result .
No significant difference was found for psychosocial outcomes such as family functioning , and child/adolescent behaviour .
REVIEW ER 'S CONCLUSIONS The evidence suggests that family and parenting interventions for juvenile delinquents and their families have beneficial effects on reducing time spent in institutions .
This has an obvious benefit to the participant and their family and may result in a cost saving for society .