Implementation Barriers to Evidence-Based Family Interventions in Community and School-Based Settings Serving Marginalized Youth
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53517/rgdf8fh4Keywords:
Implementation science; evidence-based practice; family intervention; community mental health; school mental health; marginalized youth; family engagement; sustainabilityAbstract
Background. Evidence-based family interventions are effective for a wide range of child and adolescent problems, yet they reach only a fraction of the youth who could benefit. The gap is widest for marginalized youth—those from low-income households, racial and ethnic minority communities, and families involved with child welfare or juvenile justice—who are most often served in community mental health agencies and schools rather than specialty clinics.
Objective. This narrative review identifies implementation barriers to evidence-based family interventions in community and school-based settings serving marginalized youth and synthesizes strategies for overcoming them.
Methods. This narrative review thematically interprets selected literature cited in the manuscript, published through 2021. It distinguishes controlled intervention evidence from pilot studies, observational findings, and conceptual proposals. No systematic search, meta-analysis, or formal risk-of-bias assessment is claimed.
Findings. Barriers cluster at five levels: policy and financing; organizational climate, leadership, and turnover; the workforce, including training and supervision; intervention fit, including cultural and contextual mismatch; and families, including practical obstacles and mistrust. School settings add competing academic priorities, limited family contact, and role ambiguity. The COVID-19 pandemic intensified many of these barriers. Multilevel strategies—organizational climate interventions, ongoing consultation, planned adaptation, family engagement protocols, and sustainable financing—show the most promise.
Conclusion. Implementation of family EBTs for marginalized youth fails less because the interventions are ineffective than because the systems around them are not designed to carry them. Closing the gap requires aligning policy, organizations, workforce, interventions, and family engagement simultaneously.
