The influence of family skills programmes on violence indicators: Experience from a multi-site project of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in low and middle income countries

Families can be one of the most protective forces in the lives of children and youth. Family skills interventions have been found to be effective in encouraging safe and nurturing relationships between parents (or caregivers) and children in their early years and as such preventing many problem behaviours including violence. Most of the evidence in this regards is generated from high income countries. In this article UNODC reports on variables associated with violence (including conduct problems, stress management, pro-social behaviours, family aggression and conflict) generated from a multisite project aimed at piloting family skills programmes in low and middle income countries. The countries of concern are Panama, Honduras, Guatemala, Serbia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The family skills piloted were Strengthening the Families Programme 10-14 (SFP 10-14) and Families And Schools Together (FAST). The data generated indicates high level of replicability with fidelity, affinity and need for such programmes in low and middle income countries with very encouraging in preventing violence. Significant changes at the post-test level, assessed through multi-sources, were recorded across most of the violence indicators assessed related to youth violence and child maltreatment at least on a comparable level to high-income countries.