Affiliated project led by Ali Giusto, a former lab PhD student, now principal investigator of the RAISE Family Lab, with co-PI Florence Jaguga at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital. Eve Puffer is a collaborator.
LEAD, for Learn, Engage, Act, Dedicate, is a five-session intervention for fathers in Kenya at risk for depression and who are drinking at harmful levels. Ali Giusto developed it during her doctoral work in this lab, and it is now the center of her own research program based at Florida International University. Lay providers deliver LEAD combining behavioral activation and motivational interviewing with direct discussion of masculinity and fatherhood. In an early study with nine fathers, days of drinking and amount consumed both fell, and the odds of not drinking were five times higher after treatment. Partners and children described fathers coming home earlier, speaking more openly, and sharing what they earned. The work continues in Kenya, and this lab remains a collaborator.
“When my children see their father is sober, they are happy.”
Key Publications
Giusto, A., Ayuku, D., & Puffer, E. S. (2022). Learn, Engage, Act, Dedicate (LEAD): Development and feasibility testing of a task-shifted intervention to improve alcohol use, depression and family engagement for fathers. International Journal of Mental Health Systems, 16(1), 1–15.
Giusto, A., Green, E. P., Simmons, R. A., Ayuku, D., Patel, P., & Puffer, E. S. (2020). A multiple baseline study of a brief alcohol reduction and family engagement intervention for fathers in Kenya. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 88(8), 708–725.
Giusto, A., Mootz, J., Korir, M., Jaguga, F., Mellins, C., Wainberg, M., & Puffer, E. S. (2021). "When my children see their father is sober, they are happy": A qualitative exploration of family system impacts following men’s engagement in an alcohol misuse intervention in peri-urban Kenya. SSM Mental Health, 1, 100019.
If you are interested in partnering on implementation or research related to LEAD, please reach out to Ali Giusto at agiusto@fiu.edu.