Multisystemic treatment (MST) Evidence – Based Treatment

Multisystemic Therapy (MST) is a family-oriented, short-term (3-4 months) home-based program that focuses on a target population of the chronically violent, substance-abusing juvenile offenders ages 12 to 17 years old. It uses methods that promote positive social behavior and decrease antisocial behavior, including substance use, in order to change how youth function in their natural settings (i.e., home, school, and neighborhood). The program seeks to empower the family, schools, churches, the community in general to support troubled youth.

The primary goals of MST are to:

  • Reduce youth criminal behavior
  • Reduce antisocial behavior, including substance abuse
  • Achieve these outcomes at a cost savings by decreasing incarceration and out-of-home placement rates

Based on the philosophy that the most effective and ethical route to help youth is through helping their families, MST views parents or guardians as valuable resources, even when they have serious and multiple needs of their own. A "multisystemic" approach, however, views these youth as involved in a network of interconnected systems that includes individual, family, and extra-familial (e.g., peer, school, neighborhood) factors, and recognizes that intervention is needed across these systems.

Evidence –Based Results

Decreased adolescent substance use

Decreased adolescent psychiatric symptoms

Reduced long-term rearrest rates 25% to 70 %

Improved family relations and functioning

Increased mainstream school attendance

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