Abstract

Introduction. To improve drug treatment programs through involving the family in an individual-centered program design, it is necessary to know the current professionals’ experiences within the current program. Our aim was to explore professionals’ perspectives of perceived barriers to intervene with parents or responsible adults of young offenders with substance use disorder. Methods. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with professionals (14 women, 4 man) in charge to contact and/or intervene with families from one of the 18 teams participating in this research, belonging to the Chilean National Drug Treatment Program (2016-2017). Traditional content analysis was conducted. Results. Main barriers experienced with these families were related with: 1) the complex profile of families (i.e., family resignation, externalization of parental responsibility) that hinder adherence and willingness of parents to participate; 2) the families’ problematic and dangerous context that discourage family involvement and difficult to obtain results; 3) a justice, social and health system that does not work integrally (i.e., different focuses to understand and intervene with these families); and 4) tensions with the program design (i.e., perception that the current model does not guide adequately the intervention with these families). Conclusions. Professionals have a negative concept of young offenders’ families, the family context and the intervention itself. It makes them feel hopeless and they are pessimistic about the effectiveness of the current program. When innovating the treatment modalities intended to improve treatment outcomes, it is very important to take into account professionals’ perspectives to make use of their expertise but also since their current perspective might be a barrier when suggesting a change.