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In the U.S., multisystemic therapy (MST) has been found effective for childhood conduct disorders, but the studies were conducted by the therapy's developers and used noncomprehensive comparators, such as individual therapy. The current U.K. study marks the first to be performed by independent investigators and to use a comprehensive control.
The 684 participants were aged 11 to 17 years, had moderate-to-severe conduct problems, and were randomized to MST or management as usual. Management as usual was individualized to include social, parental, and school services. The MST group received 3 to 5 months of thrice-weekly family meetings with a trained and supervised therapist, followed by management as usual.
At 18 months, the primary outcome o…