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The Strengthening Washington DC Families (SWFP) Project examined the effectiveness of an evidence-based prevention program implemented on a sample of 715 families across mulitple settings in an urban area. The study area also included suburban Maryland. SWFP was set up as a true experimental design with families being randomly placed into one of four treatment conditions:

• child skills training only
• parent skills training only
• parent and child skills training plus family skills training
• minimal treatment controls

Entire families were assigned to one of the four treatment conditions. Data were collected from all family members who participated in the program. Thus the individual data files contain more than 715 records. The parent file contains 796 cases and the child file contains 961 cases.

The Strengthening Families Program is based on cognitive-behavioral social learning theory and family systems theory targeting elementary school-aged children. In this program parents receive training in parenting skills, children receive training primarily in social skills, and families receive family skills training. The aim of the program is to effectively reduce parent, child, and family risk factors for substance use and delinquency.

The DC Metropolitan Area Drug Study (DC*MADS) was conducted in 1991, and included special analyses of homeless and transient populations and of women delivering live births in the DC hospitals. DC*MADS was undertaken to assess the full extent of the drug problem in one metropolitan area. The study was comprised of 16 separate studies that focused on different sub-groups, many of which are typically not included or are underrepresented in household surveys.

The Homeless and Transient Population study examines the prevalence of illicit drug, alcohol, and tobacco use among members of the homeless and transient population aged 12 and older in the Washington, DC, Metropolitan Statistical Area (DC MSA). The sample frame included respondents from shelters, soup kitchens and food banks, major cluster encampments, and literally homeless people. Data from the questionnaires include history of homelessness, living arrangements and population movement, tobacco, drug, and alcohol use, consequences of use, treatment history, illegal behavior and arrest, emergency room treatment and hospital stays, physical and mental health, pregnancy, insurance, employment and finances, and demographics. Drug specific data include age at first use, route of administration, needle use, withdrawal symptoms, polysubstance use, and perceived risk.

The Washington, DC, Metropolitan Area Drug Study (DC*MADS) was conducted in 1991, and included special analyses of homeless and transient delivering live births in the DC hospitals. DC*MADS was undertaken to assess the full extent of the drug problem in one metropolitan area. The study was comprised of 16 separate studies that focused on different sub-groups, many of which are typically not included or are underrepresented in household surveys.

The DC*MADS: Drug Use Among Women Delivering Livebirths in DC Hospitals was designed to examine the nature and extent of drug use among women delivering live births in eight Washington, DC, hospitals participating in the study. Data from the questionnaires include prenatal care, health problems during pregnancy, pregnancy drug use history, needle use, polysubstance use, patterns of use, respondent's general experiences with drug use, including perceptions of the risks and consequences of use, occurrence of psychological and emotional problems, income and insurance coverage, treatment experiences, and maternal and infant outcomes. Medical records were abstracted from the women and their infants to document medical problems. Abstracted data on the mothers included demographics, discharge diagnoses, disposition at discharge, and results of urine screens. Abstracted data on infants included delivery information, status at discharge, discharge diagnoses/procedures, and first urine toxicology screen results.