A Brief Intervention to Prevent Adolescent Dating Aggression Perpetration
Condition: Offensive Aggression; Sexual Aggression; Dating Violence Perpetration and Victimization
MeSH terms: Aggression
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      The proposed study is a test of the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of a brief
      motivational interview style intervention. The intervention will take place in the pediatric
      emergency department of the Boston University Medical Center by a trained interventionist and
      will follow an intervention manual developed by a team of dating abuse and brief intervention
      experts. The study will involve two randomized groups of youth age 15-19: one group will
      receive the intervention and the other will not. The study will compare changes in data from
      baseline to 3- and 6-month follow-up for those in both groups. Outcomes including dating
      abused related knowledge, attitudes about the use of violence to resolve conflict, and dating
      abuse behavior (perpetration and/or victimization) will be assessed.

      The hypothesis of this study is that youth who receive the intervention will show
      improvements in dating abuse related knowledge, attitudes and behavior that are maintained
      for 6 months, while those in the control group will show no similar change.
    

Detailed description: 
      Emergency departments offer a unique setting through which we can reach adolescents who have
      perpetrated Adolescent Dating Aggression (ADA). The Project READY (Reducing Aggression in
      Dating Relationships for Youth) brief intervention manual and training was developed by Dr.
      Emily Rothman, who is a former shelter worker, batterer intervention counselor, and dating
      violence expert, with input from research experts in brief intervention, an expert in
      adolescent batterer intervention, psychologists, low-income youth of color from the Start
      Strong Initiative, and others, with funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The
      READY intervention intercepts youth who utilize an urban emergency department for non-acute
      health care needs (e.g., cuts, sprains), provides them with tailored feedback about their
      relationship behavior, and uses motivational interviewing techniques and prepared worksheets
      to move them forward on a readiness-to-change continuum towards non-violent and respectful
      relationship behavior. For example, after being provided with information about acts
      considered unhealthy in a relationship, a participant is asked to generate a list of "pros
      and cons" about what he or she does to solve conflicts with partners, brainstorm alternatives
      that he or she would use, list reasons why the alternatives might not work in the moment, and
      troubleshoot those potential problems. Participants are then offered a menu of referrals and
      invited to select those that they would use (e.g., free mental health and substance abuse
      counseling, sexual health testing, gang prevention resources).

      The randomized controlled trial (RCT) research study will build upon our completed
      small-scale feasibility pilot project, which was conducted in 2012- 13. For the proposed
      study, we will recruit a sample large enough to evaluate whether the intervention improves
      ADA-related knowledge, positively changes ADA-related attitudes and behavioral intentions,
      and reduces self-reported perpetration behavior after 3- and 6-month follow-up periods. The
      study will enroll youth ages 15-19 years old. Notably, the setting for this intervention test
      will be an urban pediatric emergency department that primarily serves low income youth.
    

Intervention name(s): Brief Motivational Interview
Intervention type(s): Behavioral
Intervention description(s): The intervention is exclusively focused on Adolescent Dating Aggression and will always be delivered by a human interventionist. It is theory-based and its success as an intervention method for substance abuse and several other health-related issues is well established.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Intervention model description: This is a brief motivational interview-style intervention. Adolescents ages 15-19 years old who visit the emergency department and screen positive for physical or sexual dating abuse perpetration participate in a ~45 minute brief intervention and receive up to three booster calls in the subsequent 6 weeks.
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Prevention
Keywords: Adolescent; Adolescent Behavior; Age Factors; Courtship; Randomized Control Trial; Female; Male; Minority Groups/statistics & numerical data; Risk-Taking; Sex Factors; Sexual Behavior/statistics & numerical data; Substance-Related Disorders/epidemiology; Urban Population/statistics & numerical data; Violence/statistics & numerical data; Dating Violence; Dating Aggression; Perpetration