Adapting Dialectical Behavior Therapy for Transition-Age Youth and Young Adults in Foster Care
Evidence | Publications

Adapting Dialectical Behavior Therapy for Transition-Age Youth and Young Adults in Foster Care

Youth At-Risk of Homelessness Lessons from the Field, OPRE Report # 2023-078
Published: Mar 31, 2023
Publisher: Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Human Services Family Support Youth Development Federal
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Associated Project

Building Program Capacity to Support Youth at Risk of Homelessness (YARH): Phases I-III

Time frame: Phase I: 2013-2015 Phase II: 2015-2019 Phase III: 2019-2022

Prepared for:

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation

Clients
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Authors

Molly Van Drunen

Amy Dworsky

LaShaun Brooks

Key Findings
  • DBT has been adapted for youth, but literature on the use of DBT with Black youth, other youth of color, or youth who have experienced foster care is very limited. Literature on effective cultural adaptation of evidence-based interventions may offer important guidance for improving DBT skills training materials in YTP, and for developing culturally responsive and antiracist competencies in YTP coaching.
  • The DBT language and materials used in YTP matters to youth. Language and materials should have a positive tone and be more inclusive for youth in foster care, such as depicting different types of families and physical living spaces. Images and examples of characters with ethnically and racially diverse backgrounds may make DBT materials more relevant to youth.
  • Youth may engage more with DBT in YTP if the skills groups use real-life examples, references from popular culture, and flexible teaching skills, such as supplemental activities, digital media, and opportunities for youth to observe DBT skills in action.

YTP combines support from coaches, who provide intensive case management, with group-based DBT skill development for youth in foster care. YTP participants are expected to attend weekly DBT group sessions but attendance varies widely, especially among Black participants, which are 40% of YTP participants. YTP learned through their continuous quality improvement process that DBT language might not resonate with the racially and ethnically diverse population of youth in foster care that YTP serves, and may be a barrier to attendance.

The Alameda County Social Services Agency and the evaluation team at Chapin Hall conducted several activities to understand the use of DBT with transition-age youth, and to explore other ways that DBT can meet the needs of youth in YTP. The findings provide important insights into the delivery of DBT with a diverse population of youth in foster care, including how DBT language and materials might be adapted in YTP.

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