Improving care for multiproblem families: Context-specific effectiveness of interventions?

An overview of the effectiveness of interventions for multiproblem families (MPF) is lacking, and evidence seems to be context-specific. The aim of this study is to summarize the evidence on this topic in one country, the Netherlands, to better understand the reasons for the heterogeneity of findings. We searched literature published between January 2005 and April 2017. We found 26 Dutch studies of 11 interventions aimed at MPF. Most studies used a pretest-posttest design. The effect sizes of the studies ranged from small to large and varied between interventions, but also between studies of the same intervention. This large variation in effect sizes implies a need for more insight into the components of interventions. A better fit between problems of MPF and intervention components could improve the effectiveness of interventions targeting this population.