Family Check-Up helps high-risk families with children age 2 to 17 address typical challenges that arise with children before they become more serious. After two or three home visits, services are tailored to meet the family's needs and include an annual checkup. Family Check-Up is one part of a more general intervention framework referred to as an Ecological Approach to Family Intervention and Treatment (EcoFIT). The following resources offer information on the Family Check-Up program and its effectiveness.
Family Checkup: Positive Parenting Prevents Drug Abuse
National Institute on Drug Abuse (2015)
Offers parents five questions, developed by the Child and Family Center at the University of Oregon, that are important in preventing the initiation and progression of drug use among youth. For each question, a video clip shows positive and negative examples of the skill, and additional videos and information are provided to help parents practice positive parenting skills.
The Family Check-Up With High-Risk Indigent Families: Preventing Problem Behavior by Increasing Parents' Positive Behavior Support in Early Childhood (PDF - 400 KB)
Dishion, Shaw, Connell, Gardner, Weaver, & Wilson (2008)
Child Development, 79(5)
Finds that families who were offered the Family Check-Up and linked to parenting support services experienced fewer child behavior problems and improved caregiver support for positive behavior.
Intervening in Children's Lives : An Ecological, Family-centered Approach to Mental Health Care
Dishion & Stormshak (2006)
Includes details on the three phases of the Family Check-Up and the specific intervention strategies that follow, such as brief parenting interventions, interventions with children and adolescents, and family management therapy.
Prevention of Problem Behavior Through Annual Family Check-ups in Early Childhood: Intervention Effects From Home to Early Elementary School
Dishion & Brennan & Shaw & McEachern & Wilson & Jo (2014)
Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 42(8)
Reviews a randomized intervention trial that examined the effects of yearly Family Check-Ups (FCUs) and tailored parent management training on parent report of problem behavior in children age 2 to 5 years and teacher report of oppositional behavior at age 7. Findings suggest that yearly FCU services within the context of social, health, and educational services in early childhood can potentially prevent early-onset trajectories of antisocial behavior.