Substance Use Prevention in Teen Psychiatric Patients
Condition: Adolescent Substance Use
MeSH terms: Substance-Related Disorders
Study type: Interventional
Phase: Phase 1

Summary: 
      The earlier a child initiates alcohol and other drug (AOD) use, the greater the risk of
      long-range problems. This association persists despite changes in national substance use
      rates over time, indicating its stability and viability as a target for prevention. At the
      same time, parent monitoring of youth behavior tends to decrease during the adolescent years,
      creating a source of risk for not only the early onset of AOD use but also escalation. Thus,
      programs are needed in parenting behaviors and family relationships that are protective in
      helping pre-adolescent youth to avoid initiation of AOD use and abuse. This is particularly
      true of children with psychiatric disorders who are at higher risk for developing AOD
      disorders than nonpsychiatrically disturbed children. The primary goal of this study is to
      test the effectiveness of a family-centered intervention to reduce the risk of AOD use among
      pre-adolescent children with a history of emotional/behavioral problems. In this application,
      the families of 80 youths aged 12-14 years, who have not yet begun AOD use but have been
      referred for mental health care due to psychiatric symptomatology, will be randomly assigned
      to receive either an individually tailored family program or standard care. The experimental
      intervention, which is based on the Family Check-Up model (Dishion & Kavanagh, 2003),
      provides a thorough assessment of family strengths and weaknesses as they relate to future
      risk for AOD use as well as emotional/behavioral problems, and utilizes principles of
      motivational interviewing to encourage families to change. Follow-up interviews will be
      conducted at 6 and 12 months after baseline to assess changes in parenting, AOD use, and
      other risky behaviors.
    

Detailed description: 
      The earlier a child initiates alcohol and other drug (AOD) use, the greater the risk of
      long-range problems. This association persists despite changes in national substance use
      rates over time, indicating its stability and viability as a target for prevention. At the
      same time, parent monitoring of youth behavior tends to decrease during the adolescent years,
      creating a source of risk for not only the early onset of AOD use but also escalation. Thus,
      programs are needed in parenting behaviors and family relationships that are protective in
      helping pre-adolescent youth to avoid initiation of AOD use and abuse. This is particularly
      true of children with psychiatric disorders who are at higher risk for developing AOD
      disorders than nonpsychiatrically disturbed children. The primary goal of this study is to
      test the effectiveness of a family-centered intervention to reduce the risk of AOD use among
      pre-adolescent children with a history of emotional/behavioral problems. In this application,
      the families of 80 youths aged 12-14 years, who have not yet begun AOD use but have been
      referred for mental health care due to psychiatric symptomatology, will be randomly assigned
      to receive either an individually tailored family program or standard care. The experimental
      intervention, which is based on the Family Check-Up model (Dishion & Kavanagh, 2003),
      provides a thorough assessment of family strengths and weaknesses as they relate to future
      risk for AOD use as well as emotional/behavioral problems, and utilizes principles of
      motivational interviewing to encourage families to change. Follow-up interviews will be
      conducted at 6 and 12 months after baseline to assess changes in parenting, AOD use, and
      other risky behaviors.
    

Intervention name(s): Family Check-up; Parent psychoeducation
Intervention type(s): Behavioral; Behavioral
Intervention description(s): Two session motivational intervention to improve parent monitoring and communication with respect to adolescent risk behavior especially substance use; Two sessions of psychoeducation for parents regarding adolescent risk behaviors. especially substance use
Other intervention name(s): Parent Motivational Interviewing; Family psychoeducation
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Single (Outcomes Assessor)
Primary purpose: Prevention
Keywords: substance use; adolescents; initiation